Tag: local church

When the church plant is mainly taking people from other churches

I’ve been writing a little bit recently in response to comments about church planting and whether it has played its part in the decline of existing local churches.  One question that has come back my way has been “what about situations where the plant has mainly drawn members from existing churches? What if after a… Continue reading When the church plant is mainly taking people from other churches

The Death of the local church?

John Benton writes: “The truth is that there is now a marketplace of churches. This marketplace stretches across denominations and church ‘brands’. People are quite willing to switch and travel long distances. Churches are in competition for members. “Market forces are in play and that being the case, sadly, it seems that a number of those… Continue reading The Death of the local church?

Having to walk to church would not be persecution!

I can’t believe that I’ve found myself writing that headline – but you’d be surprised at the number of times that the obvious needs spelling out.  For context, the IEA have been setting out some recommendations about how to tackle the current energy crisis which is expected to get worse as a result of the… Continue reading Having to walk to church would not be persecution!

Local Church Matters

I’ve just been reading a few things about the importance of local churches serving their communities and the benefit of being part of a church which gathers within walking distance of your home. There’s nothing controversial there and I’m not seeing any body arguing for non-local church. I’m not about to attempt to make that… Continue reading Local Church Matters

Recovering Apologetics

I want to highlight three things that have stood out about the current apologetics movement recently.  The first is well publicised, which is the fall from grace of prominent apologist Ravi Zacharias.  The fall started when it was discovered that he had misled about his academic qualifications and when information began to come out about… Continue reading Recovering Apologetics

Whatever happened to the local church? A response to John Benton

I hope I can cheer John Benton up a little here. In his latest Evangelicals Now column he asks what has happened to the local church. The answer is that is is alive and kicking. That’s because Jesus is Lord of his church. To be fair, we’ve seen our share of the big city centre… Continue reading Whatever happened to the local church? A response to John Benton

Being the local church in lockdown

I would like to pick up on a question asked in response to my post about committing to a local church the other day. The question was that if we are broadcasting our services on Facebook, Youtube and Zoom and people can join in from anywhere and everywhere then how can we still claim that… Continue reading Being the local church in lockdown

local lockdowns and the local church

When Leicester went back into “lockdown” the Government explained that their strategy would be what they referred to as “whack-a-mole” acting quickly with local lockdowns to supress new spikes. Last night, we saw the most significant example of this yet as parts of West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester had new restrictions imposed. This is something… Continue reading local lockdowns and the local church

Why I changed my mind about diversity and church

A few days ago, I republished an article I wrote sometime back about whether or not our churches should focus on reaching specific cultural groups based on things like ethnicity nd class.  In the article, I argue that we should aim to grow churches which are culturally diverse. I argue against the Homogenous Unit Principle… Continue reading Why I changed my mind about diversity and church