Thanks for stopping my my blog since August – I’ve enjoyed starting it up. The top three posts for the year were: Go away, said the welcome team What prayer and ministry of the Word can never do It’s not a sin Actually that’s a lie – the top post was the free e-book version
Round about now, even the cheeriest of people starts to have a twinge of sympathy for Scrooge. As the last turkey slices are eaten, the first Christmas presents are broken, and the credit card bill pops through mail, who doesn’t think, ‘Bah, humbug”? Well, Christians don’t. Or we shouldn’t – but it took an evening
I’ve been spending a bit of time recently with some local volunteers. Non-Christian volunteers, working for a secular organisation. And I’ve been rolling up my sleeves and being a volunteer too. A bit – not as much as them. The result is that I’ve been able to talk to them, as we’ve been doing stuff
Apparently we live in a VUCA time. VUCA was an acronym developed by the military to summarise contexts like Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Everywhere is in a state of permanent change, and always has been, but VUCA describes something particular: Volatile. Issues can flare up suddenly, with no warning signs. Change has
Well it can be – or, at least, every week if you get your creativity working. John Piper has a brilliant book out, called Fifty Reasons why Jesus Came to Die. It’s published in the normal ways, but as usual with Piper you can get it as a free pdf
As a preacher I often find myself quite constrained at this time of year. There are some brilliant preaching opportunities coming round the corner (Carols, Christingle, Crib service, Midnight, Christmas Day), but they have quite a predictable shape to them. Carols: fifteen minute, punchy and throught-provoking evangelism. Christmas Day: fifteen minutes if I can hold
A friend just described two churches to me, and I didn’t expect what he told me. One is a church planted about nine years ago, established and growing solidly – around 100 people on a Sunday. The other is enormous, one of London’s largest, with an international congregation and reputation, and a leader you’ve probably
A fresh look at the back-story of Christmas – good for Carol services: Click on the link Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
So you wrap all the presents, put then in the car and head off for Christmas with the relatives – but on the journey the labels fall off. Ever tried to play ‘Guess the Gift’ as you try to put the right label back? Like me, you’ve probably put the wrong one back on. Which
The Behaviour carriage must always follow Believing – if it comes first, we’ve made a train wreck of the gospel. But where does Belonging fit in the sequence?
ministrynutsandbolts.com 