Gradually over the years, my wife has trained me to do better. In the early days of our relationship, I’d share some news with her about a birth, death, engagement or such like. She’d then ask follow up questions – like the baby’s gender, weight, name etc and I wouldn’t know. Sarah would keep telling… Continue reading The inevitable follow up question
Tag: pastoral care
God’s Word is sufficient for Pastoral care
This week’s podcast
The hard work of the pastor
I think we can fall into one of three traps if we are involved in church pastoral ministry. At the one end of the spectrum are those who see pastors as basically chaplains, nice, homely sorts who are primarily employed to go round and visit the elderly church members and drink copious cups of tea.… Continue reading The hard work of the pastor
Continuing to trace the rainbow
Back a few months back, as the news came in that Queen Elizabeth II had died, a rainbow appeared over Windsor Castle. It was a beautiful symbol of God’s goodness and promises at a time of grief. I’ve frequently talked in terms of “tracing the rainbow” based on the lyrics of the hymn “Oh Love… Continue reading Continuing to trace the rainbow
What was David’s sin with Bathsheba?
Over the past few years, a little debate has kept cropping up about whether it is right to suggest that David committed adultery with Bathsheba or whether in fact we need to say that he raped her. I wrote a guest post for Steve Kneale here when the debate first came up but it has… Continue reading What was David’s sin with Bathsheba?
Postscript to my correspondence with Premier Christianity
A little update to the issue I raised with Premier Christianity about serious concerns a number of us have had about their editorial approach. You can read the letter I sent to Premier here. Today, I received this response. Dear Dave, Thank you for taking the time to email. As you quite rightly state below,… Continue reading Postscript to my correspondence with Premier Christianity
Bad theology plus complacent thinking = dangerous pastoral care
I’ve been writing a little about Biblical counselling recently. I’ve been particularly picking up on some of the dangers with certain strains of it but I do so as someone who believes that properly used, Biblical counselling does have a crucial place. I intend to write a little bit more about this shortly. However, first… Continue reading Bad theology plus complacent thinking = dangerous pastoral care
Should I give up on seeing people coming back to church?
It varies from church to church but most churches even if they’ve experienced growth through new people joining appear to have lost some people from in person attendance during COVID. I was arguing back in the Autumn that those who had not begun to re-join your gatherings or at least make active preparation probably would… Continue reading Should I give up on seeing people coming back to church?
It is not always right or possible to remain neutral
In a recent blogpost I wrote about what we might want to pray in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I included this comment: We pray that God will bring peace, that the conflict will end. However, I don’t think we simply pray for peace at any cost. Our desire should be for… Continue reading It is not always right or possible to remain neutral
Reminder – please fill in the Faithroots Survey (Feb 22)
Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback so far. If you haven’t, please spare a couple of minutes to answer a few questions.
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