Category: Church

The Underground, Florida – a better way to be the church?

Did Jesus mean it to come to this? Yes!! I think he did!! One common theme of this blog is that the 21st century western church too often seems to have lost the vision of the mission of Jesus, and settled for something far less noble. So it is a great pleasure to be able […]

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant" (Matthew 20:26)

Did Jesus mean it to come to this? It is too easy to put words into Jesus’ mouth and say what he would or wouldn’t approve of. I won’t fall into that trap, but I will ask some pointed questions. If Jesus could have foreseen twenty-first century western christianity, what would he think? For instance, […]

Fear and control – keeping a church on track or preventing maturity?

Did Jesus mean it to come to this? I believe Fear and Control is one of the most insidious and harmful characteristics of many churches today. Read on to see what I mean, and why.

Urban tribes and the church (part2)

The story so far ….. Last post (Urban tribes and the church) I discussed how on a recent holiday I was observing young urban Generation Z professionals, and musing what they might think about church, or at least most churches. I felt there were many ways that modern western christianity was an alien culture to […]

How many christian denominations? Who cares? And why do they care?

Almost 6 years ago I posted on How many christian denominations worldwide. I had been asked this question by an internet friend (not a christian believer) who was tired of hearing unsupported claims. It has become my most visited and most commented page, accounting for almost half the visitors to this site. I can’t help […]

How a deep and growing divide is killing Protestant christianity – or maybe renewing it!

Right from the earliest days, there have always been disagreements within the christian community. Some are resolved, but some lead to major splits, new denominations or new doctrinal positions. I have the feeling that a major, and probably irreversible, divergence is brewing in the western Protestant church, between those we may label “evangelical” and those […]

Who's the boss? Leadership in the christian church

Did Jesus mean it to come to this? You can read a lot about leadership, whether in companies and in the church. You can attend conferences, read books, check out websites about leadership. You can find lists of the essential characteristics of good leadership. But what does Jesus say about leadership? How does it fit […]

Mission vs maintenance

Did Jesus mean it to come to this? How much does modern western christianity come from Jesus, and how much comes from somewhere else? A few weeks back I introduced the theme of Did Jesus mean it to come to this?, in which I want to examine the modern western church, and muse on how […]

Did Jesus mean it to come to this?

More than two billion people in the world today identify as followers of Jesus. This includes a fair percentage of inhabitants of the USA, currently the world’s most powerful nation, its most influential via film, TV, social media and popular music, and home of some of the world’s richest people. My country, Australia, still has […]

Patriarchy, headship and equality

It hasn’t always been comfortable being a man during these #metoo days. Men we might have thought could be trusted have been accused, and often admitted to, all manner of unacceptable, sexually predatory and abusive behaviour, mostly against women. For me, it became most pointed when this last weekend I read a long article in […]