“I think my house is haunted; there’s an evil Spirit present. Will you come and do an exorcism?” How would you respond to this request? Or what do you do when someone confidently announces that the reason that the evangelism team are struggling is because of territorial spirits? They suggest a prayer march through the… Continue reading Spiritual Warfare
Tag: pastoral counselling
How can we help?
The conversation you rather wouldn’t be having “I just don’t think we can go on. We’ve tried everything. It’s time to go our separate ways.” With those words, you are asked to give your blessing to divorce. Or, you’re sat talking with a young member. They’ve recently started dating someone who is not a Christian. … Continue reading How can we help?
When did you last hear a pastor talk about heterosexual ethics?
In my survey about what pastors talk about I asked when was the last time you heard a pastor address the matter of sexual ethics. I divided that into ethics concerning heterosexual relationships and same-sex relationships. The results are interesting because among those taking part, sexual ethics were highly likely to have been addressed in… Continue reading When did you last hear a pastor talk about heterosexual ethics?
Mutual submission and headship
Here’s the next in our current #FaithrootsLive series on men, women and leadership – a look at Ephesians 5:21-32.
Preaching in the middle of a crisis
Over the last couple of days, I ran a little survey on twitter asking people when was the last time they’d heard pastors addressing specific contemporary issues. You can see the results here and I’m planning to share a few articles later this week with further analysis and discussion of them. One thing that came… Continue reading Preaching in the middle of a crisis
Love is more than empathy
What’s the best thing that you can do when you see someone else suffering, crying out in emotional pain? The answer is of course, that often it is simply to go and sit with them, to say nothing but rather to simply be alongside them, to feel their pain with them and to weep with… Continue reading Love is more than empathy
The danger of conclusions drawn from circumstances
Yesterday I wrote about the short term supply chain problems affecting various economies around the world and causing specific shortages in terms of food in the UK. I observed that people are quick to draw conclusions from correlations that support their particular political presuppositions so that some people are adamant that this has been caused… Continue reading The danger of conclusions drawn from circumstances
Be careful with your offence
When Steve Chalke infamously used his punchline comparing Penal Substitution to “cosmic child abuse” a lot of people picked up on how offensive this was towards God. I think Chalke’s defence would be that it could not be offensive to God because the God he believed in had not punished his son on our behalf… Continue reading Be careful with your offence
What is happening with COVID hospital admissions?
As you know, I’ve been sharing a few articles about the COVID situation. to help us with our thinking about church life at this phase in the pandemic. Whilst pastors and leaders cannot become experts in epidemiology and whilst our primary focus is to keep people focused on Christ, it is helpful for us to… Continue reading What is happening with COVID hospital admissions?
The unhappy narcissist
Yesterday I wrote about the happy narcissist. We can assume that narcissists will be happy people, so caught up in the wonder of their own beauty and brilliance and enjoying the good things that come their way. However, not all narcissists are happy. Indeed, yesterday we saw that they are not truly happy because true… Continue reading The unhappy narcissist
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