Do you know someone who appeared to be a strong christian, and then began to doubt the truth of the whole thing? I’m guessing they were likely someone in their twenties, brought up as believers but suddenly facing questions they didn’t have answers for and issues they couldn’t easily resolve. And I’m guessing many of […]
Thirty five years ago my life was changed after listening to a talk on prayer and spiritual warfare. I had been converted as a teen in a Presbyterian church where doctrine was regarded as the most important thing and God was known to be sovereign, ordaining everything according to his good purposes. But this doctrine […]
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 […]
The young adults in the group we lead asked us what it means to follow Jesus in 2018. The study and discussion took us in some interesting directions. This is what we learnt together.
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.
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 […]
We’ve just come back from a short holiday in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city. We stayed in South Yarra, an inner urban and somewhat hip location which is noticeably different to the suburb where we live in Sydney. The obvious differences start with the dense inner urban environment of high-rise apartments and offices, the streetscapes […]
Grasstree Gathering Australia’s indigenous peoples form a small minority (2.8%) in the country they once had to themselves, and have suffered significantly since white colonisation (which can reasonably be seen as an invasion). About three quarters identify as christian. They tend to be a spiritual people, but it can be difficult for them to meet […]
The facts about Jesus are clearly stated in the gospels, and they don’t change, but people have so many different understandings of him. The Catholic Jesus or Orthodox Jesus is not the same as the evangelical Protestant Jesus, or the Jesus of liberal Protestant theologians. I think there is probably some truth in all portraits, […]
I was looking today at the notes prepared by a church for their Bible study groups, and I had a minor epiphany. Really minor, but I thought worth sharing.