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 […]
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.
Try this brief quiz (if you haven’t seen my other blog): Which country is the richest in the world in terms of median wealth? Which countries come close? Which countries have the greatest and least disparity between the rich and the rest? In the richest country, what percentage of people live in poverty? Have a […]
CS Lewis, christian, author, apologist and academic, died 50 years ago last week, and many assessments of his life and work have been made in commemoration. I think he was, arguably, the most influential christian in the western world in the last century. And, definitely, he has been the most influential writer and teacher in […]
Black Stump is a christian music and arts festival that has been held near Sydney for the past 25 or so years. I have just come back from my 15th Stump, and it was one of the best ever.
Dave Tomlinson is a British christian who has always pushed the envelope: a leader in the UK house church movement in the 1980s, founder of the Holy Joes “church” in a pub and author of The Post-Evangelical in the 1990s, and now Church of England vicar at St Lukes in London and author of How […]
I have written many times on this blog about problems I see with the way most churches operate. So it is a pleasure to be able to write about a community of christians who seem to be doing things ‘right’.
Last post I blogged about atheists at US universities, many of whom grew up in ‘fundamentalist’ churches. This post, we look at conservative christians who went through a period of examining their faith, but chose to continue to believe in Jesus, albeit their beliefs about God changed somewhat.
I am interested in effective communication, not as an end in itself, but because if we want to make disciples, we need to train and equip each other effectively. And for this, sermons just don’t cut it.