word | spirit | world | church
Why is our faith shallow part II. In the last post on the causes of the discipleship crisis, I explored why Sundays are shallow. The gathered worship of the church is supposed to be the pattern of life for the church scattered and for the life of the world. However, it’s not supposed to be… Continue reading We have Shallow Communities
Have you ever noticed that in Genesis chapter one, the days are the wrong way around? When I say the wrong way around, I mean backwards to what we expect, and before you rush off to compare the order of creation and question whether it means anything meaningful that the sun and moon come so… Continue reading Evening, then Morning
How do you tell what’s good and what’s bad? How do you tell the difference between wisdom and folly? It’s not like it’s just intrinsic to all of us, or we would make fewer bad decisions. I think it’s tempting to suggest that our difficulty here is because our minds are blinded by sin. There’s… Continue reading Wisdom is Work
There’s a sort of language in charismatic culture that love the word ‘freedom.’ That’s great, right? Who wouldn’t like our freedom? Who would want to give up our freedom (cue William Wallace memes)? Who would want to live in… unfreedom (the opposite of freedom is ‘bondage’ but people really get the wrong idea these days)?… Continue reading Freedom isn’t a thing
There’s an adage that gets thrown around in church circles, and maybe wider: healthy things grow. There’s an increasingly common quip in response that suggests that healthy things grow, and then stop growing. The only thing that keeps on growing constantly is cancer. The first is usually used to suggest either that your church not… Continue reading Good Growth
We contest not with flesh and blood but with powers and principalities (Ephesians 6). This means the grand principles of the fallen world, ruled by evil personalities, and the everyday demons we all encounter all the time. Which might sound strange as maybe you don’t encounter many demons, but my pastoral experience would suggest otherwise.… Continue reading What is Spiritual Warfare
Creation is finished on the sixth day. God’s work is finished on the seventh day, when he rests (Gen 2). That is surprising to us, I think. God’s work includes his resting, literally his stopping, his sabbath. We want to position work against rest as though they are opposites. They aren’t, though they aren’t the… Continue reading Working and Resting
Behind my desk is a wall of words: 16 quotes or phrases that encourage me, each done in attractive typography. One of them is from N. D. Wilson, a writer whose wordsmithing I appreciate, even if I think we would think differently about very much where church and faith are concerned: heartbeats cannot be hoarded… Continue reading Lives are for living
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
“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
nuakh 