word | spirit | world | church
Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 is keen to express to the Corinthians that worship should be orderly. Yes, you can have a flow of charismatic life with everyone bringing their prayer, tongue, Bible reading, prophecy, and the rest, but you must also have some order. At the very least you need to take it in… Continue reading Order and the Charismatic
If you want to mature, you’re going to have to suffer. Actually, that’s not quite right. You are going to suffer, that’s the nature of life under the sun. Some of that will be petty, some of it will be serious, and (heaven-forfend) some of it will be so psychologically scarring that you’ll be getting… Continue reading Maturity Will Hurt
Elders should have sabbaticals, and that means all Elders, whether they are paid by the church or not. To help you follow my reasoning, let me first establish two principles. The Principle of Parity First, we should aim for parity among elders. This flows from the conviction that churches are led by teams of elders.… Continue reading Sabbaticals and Elders
The most undertrained group in churches are elders. Most church elders are not on staff at their churches. That’s not just thinking about very small churches that can’t pay one of their elders, but most eldership teams are going to be majority non-employed by their churches. As an aside, don’t call these guys ‘lay elders’… Continue reading Elders & Training
We live in difficult days. My nation has fallen headlong into a sort of Protestant Paganism and is embracing all of sorts of beliefs and practices that are against the way of God. This isn’t suddenly true, it has been growing steadily for some time, and it could all turn in any direction very suddenly.… Continue reading Pastors Need to Stand Up
This is the next part of my ongoing series exploring the letter written by St Polycarp to the church in Philippi, collaborating with my friend Adsum Try Ravenhill of the Raven’s Writing Desk. You can read the previous parts at these links: I; II; III, IV, V. Dear Adsum You are in my prayers; I know things have been… Continue reading 5 Instructions for Elders: Polycarp VI
One of the qualifications for elders is hospitality (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), which means ‘welcoming strangers.’ While this is an absolute expectation of pastors, most of the qualifications describe the ordinary Christian life. We’re meant to be welcoming strangers, and we’re all meant to be doing it (Hebrews 13). Yet, we’re terrible at it.… Continue reading Welcoming Strangers
Every member of the church is meant to participate in the church’s gathered worship, because the Bible insists that we do. Continuing my series on my Eucharismatic manifesto, I’d like to talk about the importance of what we might call ‘worship,’ but I’ve referred to as ‘prayer.’ I’ve deliberately shifted the language because I want… Continue reading Worshipping in Spirit
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