So, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have made their first big U-Turn. After announcing with great fanfare that abolishing the 45p tax band was crucial to enabling economic growth, the chancellor has started the Conservative Party Conference by stating that this particular tax cut was in fact a distraction from the Government’s overall growth policy… Continue reading Lessons from a U-Turn: How do you make decisions?
Tag: church leadership
If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?
A friend asked this searching question the other day – not specifically of me. Rather, they asked men who hold to complementarianism what they would lose if they walked away from that position. It’s an interesting one. In a sense, there might be something to lose. You see, for some pastors/leaders, it would involve losing… Continue reading If I stopped being a complementarian, what would I lose?
Complementarianism and Singleness
I want to engage a little bit further on the question of complementarianism and its implications for church life. I want to pick up particularly on a question raised by someone on twitter which was to the affect of “what does complementarianism have to say to single people?” They used themselves as an example, they… Continue reading Complementarianism and Singleness
The Rule of Ten
One of the little thought experiments Chris Green encouraged his leadership students at Oak Hill to do was to think in terms of the rule of ten. Think in terms of ten times less and ten times more. So, if you had a church of 100, then stop and think about what it would be… Continue reading The Rule of Ten
Fallow Ground
Ancient Israel was expected to observe sabbath years (every 7) and jubilee years every 50. Those years were meant to allow for the release of slaves, cancellation of debt, return of property to tribal/clan ownership and rest for the land with the fields left fallow. Whilst those laws were specific to Israel and so not… Continue reading Fallow Ground
Phoebe
Here’s our last clue when thinking about deacons. At the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul greets a number of people in the church. First of all, at the head of the list is a woman named Phoebe. Rather than greeting her, Paul commends her. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a… Continue reading Phoebe
What are deacons (not)
I’ve just took part in an interesting conversation with other pastors which started out with a question about how we train deacons in the church. This led to further questions about what exactly is a deacon? Fascinatingly there didn’t seem to be a uniform opinion on this. So, I thought it might be worth thinking… Continue reading What are deacons (not)
A need that has not gone away during lockdown
One of my concerns is that we have short attention spans. We hop from topic to topic. Last year we were talking about Brexit, then thete were the climate extinction rallies. For Christisns they were eclipsed by some serious spiritual abuse cases hit the headlines. COVID-19 hit the headlines and suddenly all the things we… Continue reading A need that has not gone away during lockdown
Talking behind closed doors – Genevan Commons and Aimee Byrd
Part three of this engagement is less about the specific theology and practice up for debate in Byrd’s book. Here instead I want to tackle one of the spin off issues. The other week, Aimee Byrd posted a link to a new website on her blog. The website provides screenshots from a Facebook group called… Continue reading Talking behind closed doors – Genevan Commons and Aimee Byrd
Aimee Byrd and Biblical manhood (part 1)
Another row has been brewing and building state side and whilst it may not appear to have immediate implications here in the UK, I believe the implications are there both because of the international interconnectedness of the church and because there are lessons and warning signs of for us too. The row centres around an… Continue reading Aimee Byrd and Biblical manhood (part 1)
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