Evangelicals Now have been running a series of articles from various prominent evangelicals entitled “Evangelical Futures.” In the most recent article Glen Scrivener shares some of his experience of the conservative Evangelical scene. In the article, Glen reminds us of the book “The Trellis and the Vine” by Payne and Marshall. He suggests that there… Continue reading Evangelical Futures – Evangelicals Now (reflections in response to Glen Scrivener)
Tag: #FletcherCulture
Sue Gray’s Report, Party Gate and church culture
We now have the Sue Gray report (or at least a heavily redacted version) available to read giving us a little bit more of an insight into Downing Street life and culture during the pandemic. One question that has come up as we’ve awaited Gray’s findings has been about the rights and wrongs of the… Continue reading Sue Gray’s Report, Party Gate and church culture
The problem with church lad culture
I’ve not got round to listening to The Rise and fall of Mars Hill podcast. From what I’ve heard, it’s not easy listening. The podcast tells the story of Mark Driscoll’s rise to prominence as an evangelical leader and subsequent fall from grace. Driscoll became a bit of a poster boy for the neo-Calvinists and… Continue reading The problem with church lad culture
Five MPs and the value of integrity
How much do we value integrity in public life? Well we’ve had an answer back from the House of Commons standards committee. 5 Conservative MPs were found to have breached standards by writing letters to judges in relation to the disgraced former MP Charlie Elphicke who was found guilty in July 2020 of sexually assaulting… Continue reading Five MPs and the value of integrity
Our responsibility when there are accusations of abuse and bullying
Today I’m attending an online conference organised by Church As Refuge. The organisers want to encourage pastors and church leaders to think about how we make churches safe and welcoming refuges for victims of abuse. However, the context is also that sadly we have seen too many cases of abuse within the church. We’ve seen… Continue reading Our responsibility when there are accusations of abuse and bullying
Trauma, grief and response to abuse
Over the past few years, I’ve written and spoken quite a bit about the problem of abusive cultures particularly in the context of church life. First of all, my concern is to see us doing better in letting what we believe affect how we live so that doctrines of grace lead to cultures of grace.… Continue reading Trauma, grief and response to abuse
The Guilt Driven Church or the Grace Saturated Church?
Over the next few days we’ve something a little different on #TheDailyDose . I’m taking a break from working through a book in order to look at a mini topical series. Over the past few months, we’ve been challenged following the Fletcher, Smyth and Timmis scandals to look at our church culture. What kind of… Continue reading The Guilt Driven Church or the Grace Saturated Church?
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
Changing our culture – the relationship between church leaders and church members
In my previous post, I talked about how to reform church culture towards a grace culture by focusing on our relationship towards one another as characterised by humility. Today, I want to talk about how leaders and congregations should relate to each other. Here are two important scriptures on the subject. First of all, we… Continue reading Changing our culture – the relationship between church leaders and church members
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