word | spirit | world | church
Last year I read and greatly benefited from Natalie Williams & Paul Brown’s book Invisible Divides. It explains the challenges of being working class in an English church—which at least among evangelicals are currently majority middle-classed—and outlines the ways that Pastors and others need to think differently in order to make multi-class churches. One of… Continue reading Embracing the Minority
The bright spring day of April’s heatwave lasted for about five months, a single timeless moment. We were locked down due to Covid-19 from March through to June, and then with schools closed until September those who could continued to work from home. I lived without rhythm. My work was at home on my laptop,… Continue reading Repost: The Rhythm of Rest
When reading through 2 Timothy with some folk a few weeks back, I got a number of questions about some of Paul’s instructions that seemed very strange to my fellow readers. There are a number of people that Paul seems to not want Timothy to associate with. He lists some individuals but then at the… Continue reading “Avoid such people”
Christians are supposed to be the wise. I often wonder if we really are. While my own preaching and teaching, as well as that of others I know well or have sat under, contains a lot of practical application, I am beginning to suspect that I haven’t spent a lot of time teaching about wisdom… Continue reading Repost: Get Wisdom
I launched nuakh by describing my desire to write cold takes, to not publish quickly or flippantly, but to wait to share my writing. Typically, I’ve been waiting around 3 months to do so. Occasionally this throws up some odd circumstances, like when I wrote about how the country felt after the Queen’s death two… Continue reading On Cold Takes
We live in what Charles Taylor calls a ‘culture of Authenticity,’ one where the primary values are autonomy, individuality, authenticity, and freedom. Which, since some churches talk about freedom a lot, can be confusing, because I’m not sure we mean the same thing. The freedom our churches talk about is the kind where you get… Continue reading Finding freedom from freedom
A niche topic, perhaps, but very popular in the businesses I’ve worked in, and reasonably popular in the church worlds I’ve worked in too. I suspect most readers know someone who has talked about their Enneagram number or Myers-Briggs Type Index (MBTI), perhaps you even like thinking this way yourself. How should Christians think about… Continue reading On Personality Profiling
My last two thoughts for now on the Eucharismatic ‘manifesto’ that I sketched. Regularity and Form I’ve drawn a doctrine of the church that maps four encounters with God: Baptism, Lord’s Supper, Preaching, and Contributory Worship. It’s not wildly different from lots of Protestant versions, it’s essentially word and sacrament, with the charismatic addition being… Continue reading Two final Eucharismatic Words
“Well if God’s called you, it’ll work out.” I’ve been told this lots of times myself, I think I believe it half of the time. But it’s not true. Not in the way we mean it anyway. What we’re saying is, you’re going to do this risky seeming thing on the basis of your faith… Continue reading Success looks like obedience
The Church’s worship should include the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, with the gathered people of God eating and drinking Jesus’ body and blood together in order to receive from him. The Lord is the host who has laid the table for us. This is the plank of my eucharismatic manifesto which makes the charismatic… Continue reading A Eucharismatic Supper
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