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?
Tag: grace driven culture
Generous Righteousness: The one who lavishes grace on us
The story of Ruth is also of course the story of Boaz and what an incredible story it is. Boaz is the land owner who sees a foreign widow gleaning in his field and when he finds out who she is insists that she is protected and well treated. Of course, Boaz at one level… Continue reading Generous Righteousness: The one who lavishes grace on us
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 (church) body keeps the score
I recently referred to the book “The body keeps the score” which talks about how mental health issues and in particular trauma related health is not just in the mind. The physical brain, nervous system and the body are affected by trauma, respond to it and keep score of the damage inflicted. So, I’ve begun… Continue reading The (church) body keeps the score
How (not) to be a guilt driven church
#TheDailyDose – Ephesians 2:8-10 The book we bought and the book we read Rick Warren’s best sellers “The purpose driven life” and “The purpose driven church” –but a lot of churches and Christian lives feel “guilt driven” …not purpose driven What do I mean …. Trying to bridge a gap “For it is by grace… Continue reading How (not) to be a guilt driven church
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?
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)
Gifted and Talented
What does that phrase make you think of? It’s frequently used to describe stand out students at school. The Gifted and talented are to be separated out for special attention at one end of the educational spectrum in order to maximise Grade 9s, A*s and Oxbridge places. Of course at the other end of the… Continue reading Gifted and Talented
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?
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