word | spirit | world | church
We’re here to make disciples. Much popular preaching in the section of Matthew 28 that we’re taken to calling ‘the Great Commission’ gets my goat. It can amount to an exhortation to get the punters in by any means necessary as though the most important thing we’re doing is introducing new people to Jesus. Here’s… Continue reading We’re not here to make converts
In the last few months lots of people have left X/Twitter. Most of this is driven by their distaste for the new American administration and Elon Musk’s role in it. I like Twitter. I’ve made friends there. It’s one of the two primary routes that people have discovered my writing, which I’m thankful for. It’s… Continue reading Changing Ecosystems
There are two church leadership offices described in the Bible, the elder and the deacon. Deacons provide material (or operational) support to elders, and the only character qualification that’s distinctive between the two offices is that elders need to be able to ‘teach.’ That tells you something about the distinct thing that elders do. However,… Continue reading Pastor vs Elder vs Bishop
Jesus’ parable of the four soils (Matthew 13) shows an unexpected truth about the way the kingdom of God grows: most things we try aren’t successful. Did you catch that? There are four soils and one is good; the sower’s job is to sow the seed. The quarter, or so, that falls on good soil… Continue reading Hit and Miss
This is a guest post from Aaron Stead, responding to my post about a Theological Vision for Ministry, which was inspired by the book Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls. Aaron is studying for an MTh with Union School of Theology. Some time ago I was talking to a vicar who after 50 years… Continue reading Against Executive Pastors
In my review of the year, I mentioned Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve. It’s a strange book, about the science of leadership. The book is terribly written and probably needs a modern explainer writing. This post is an attempt not to summarise it but to highlight some things that stood out to me. These… Continue reading 7 Leadership Lessons from Friedman
I’ve spent six months now blogging about what I’ve dubbed the discipleship crisis: our collective Christian mind is poorly formed and our lives don’t look that different from everyone else around us. We’re meant to be Christians in everything we do. We live in a particular moment where in the UK the cultural power of… Continue reading The Discipleship Crisis Part 2
Stretching Minds V We’ve been talking about how to stretch minds in this series of posts, and I’ve suggested fours approaches that aren’t about scheduling events. However we can schedule things that address whatever we think needs addressing. In this final post I’d like to suggest some events you could schedule. I imagine Pastors reading… Continue reading Teaching the Church
I recently read Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls. It’s a wonderful book and should be widely read by Pastors and Elders in all kinds of churches. The book is trying to plumb the wisdom of the Church Fathers for pastoral ministry, exploring what an elder in a church is and what they do… Continue reading A Theological Vision for Ministry
Stretching Minds IV If we want to stretch our minds, we need to hear the Bible. This is the form it was designed to be interacted with. There’s nothing wrong with reading—it’s very good—but it can be very solitary. It is good for us to read the Bible together and hear it together. Most evangelical… Continue reading Read the Bible, Together
nuakh 