One day, when I was a young christian, I had a surprising thought. As soon as I thought it, I knew it couldn’t be true. But this untrue thought set me on a path of discovery that I am still on today. This path has enriched my understanding of Jesus and changed the way I […]
The Barna Group has recently released results of research into church attendance in USA, including information on “millennials” (under-30s). While this will have little relevance to other countries, there may be some similarities and thus things we may all learn
You can read the New Testament without knowing anything about the authors or the background to their writing. If that’s you, you probably won’t be interested in this post. But I have long been interested in these background matters, and lately I’ve be coming to a few conclusions.
Last post I described how I have been on a journey working out what I think is true, or not, about the Old Testament. This post I try to draw some conclusions.
I’ve been reading a few books on the Old Testament lately. Paradoxically, this is probably the one I most disagreed with, yet also the one I gained the most from.
Last post (Justice and the gospel), we looked at how the ministry of Jesus included both evangelism and meeting physical needs. But in many western evangelical churches, the “gospel” has been narrowed down to mean little more than personal salvation. If you are in a church like that, and you believe that justice and care […]
When I was a young christian (a few decades ago now!), evangelical churches tended to focus on evangelism, and some viewed justice and social action with suspicion. Things have changed since then, with most christians and churches supportive of social welfare and overseas aid programs. There is still a tendency to see these programs as […]
I have said before (Church as a community of people) that I am a great fan of the blog Church in a circle. Their latest post, 10 principles which could transform your church practices – permanently is well worth checking out, as it summarises some of the ‘big ideas’ they have been learning and blogging […]
I have been considering the implications of Peter Enns’ suggestion that, in the light of the evidence, we should understand the Old Testament differently than we have done in the past. In a comment on the post Interpreting the Old Testament, Brisancian has asked a number of questions about how we can know what’s true. […]
Let’s start the year with a good news story! Since he was elected in March, Pope Francis has been making waves and charming friend and foe alike. It’s worth reviewing.