I’ve been writing a few articles on things like mission and vision statements. There is the risk that such things can feel corporate, slick and fluffy. However, if a mission statement is really simply “Matthew 28:19-20 with a date stamp and a postcode” then what we are doing is helping the church apply God’s word… Continue reading What does your church value?
Tag: grace driven church
Protecting leaders from exhaustion
I recently saw the question asked “what can churches and pastors do to protect against burnout?” As you know, I prefer not to use the term burnout as it is often used as a cover for all kinds of things including depression and anxiety. However, presuming that we are describing here mental and physical exhaustion… Continue reading Protecting leaders from exhaustion
Food from around the worldwide web (15-05-2022)
Occasionally I provide a round up of articles that others have been writing about. Here’s the latest. 3 reasons Christians slander one another -it’s something we know shouldn’t happen and yet seems to happen a lot. Why? Is this approach to complementarianism just dressed up egalitarianism – this is a slightly similar issue, not so… Continue reading Food from around the worldwide web (15-05-2022)
Healthy Biblical Counselling
In previous articles I’ve shared my concerns regarding some aspects of Biblical Counselling. Some approaches lead you towards what risks being harsh and legalistic counselling. This arises out of an assumption that we can resolve a problem by identifying and stopping the sin that caused it. This leads, in my opinion to a shallow engagement… Continue reading Healthy Biblical Counselling
Grace (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Here’s the outline notes of a sermon I preached yesterday. Introduction As a church we want to be a grace filled community – a radical alternative to the world and culture around us. This means that every aspect of what we do and how we live is saturated in this thing called grace. We need… Continue reading Grace (Ephesians 2:1-10)
On not playing the accusers’ game
In my last post on false accusation, I argued that following Jesus’ example in the face of false accusation doesn’t mean that we cannot respond to lies in order to challenge, correct or clarify. Rather, I said that it means we must not play the same game. Peter says about Jesus: 22 He committed no sin,… Continue reading On not playing the accusers’ game
Abuse, safeguarding and church discipline
One of my main concerns is to see healthy churches planted into urban contexts. We often talk about the church planting bit but I also try to talk as much as possible about the healthy bit. When we talk about healthy churches we are thinking both about health in terms of right doctrine/teaching and good… Continue reading Abuse, safeguarding and church discipline
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 advanced training every pastor needs
I’ve just been on a training course for three days up in Manchester. It’s quite a bit of a sacrifice for a proud Yorkshireman to be that side of the Pennines but also to be spending time away from home. The course was to do with providing coaching for church planters. So, on the one… Continue reading The advanced training every pastor needs
Why do we struggle to talk about pastors and depression?
A few years back I was asked to cover a couple of sessions for a ministry training course. One of the sessions was on “failure.” The request came with a couple of those expected awkward jokes along the lines of “we aren’t picking you for any specific reason.” Indeed, at the time, arguably I’d not… Continue reading Why do we struggle to talk about pastors and depression?
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