As well as reading a lot of books, I also read a ton of articles every week. Here are some of the articles that I’ve read recently and have found interesting, helpful, challenging and encouraging. I hope that they will be the same for you, my dear readers…
IF THERE’S ONE THING WE CAN OFFER, IT’S AUTHENTICITY
“We need to go to where the church hasn’t been setup to cater for particular people, or seeking to target particular demographics, but to those that are reaching a wide range of people, from different class, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, who are glad for their members to be their authentic selves in Christ under his gospel, even with the mess that will almost certainly bring as different people and cultures rub up against one another.”
Why Unhealthy People Crave Controversy
“Often, quarrelsomeness is just that—a desperate attempt to find a purpose or to find a place to feel important or to answer a gnawing boredom with the everydayness of life.”
Keeping Secrets for the Sake of the Gospel – or, thinking about power and sin.
“It’s my prayer that the ‘boys club’ that holds so much influence in different Christian spaces (and arguably there are multiple networks, but that’s for another time) will be broken open and that every Christian will recognise that we are not kings and peasants, but brothers and sisters.”
Leaders Need To Lead
“Pastors need to take the reins, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, and actively lead the Lord’s people. Realistically, the role of a pastor today also involves administration, planning and vision. However, all of those things should not be seen as distinct from the day to say spiritual care of the Lord’s people but they should be an extension of it.”
God Wants the Blame for Climate Change
I’m not too sure about this article, what do you think about it?
Why we should all be using printed Bibles
“Apart from avoiding the distractions of really urgent text messages and social media notifications the must be attended to, there are other really important reasons why print Bibles (technically called a codex) offer a better reading experience.”
Building community in the playground
“We’re made for friendship but we seem to have lost the art of being friendly. Take this time to stop and pause and resolve to live differently today. It will take boldness and courage and belief that you’re not the only one that finds it hard. But in turn, you’ll have been warm to many and might even find friendship.”
Reformed Theology is Beautiful; Reformed Culture is Not
Blake says it like it is, Reformed Theology is not the problem but the culture that is often within certain circles is.
The Scrolling Soul
“Scrolling shrivels your soul as it pulls it in a thousand different directions. It distracts you from the greatest object your soul could ever love, and the most glorious truths your eyes and ears could ever behold. Don’t let your soul get sucked into the vanity of an aimless scrolling wasteland—where paths lead everywhere but never to a place of rest and joy.”
Against Tick-Box Bible Reading
“But our wills, bent by the Enlightenment, and hard hearts make us want to ‘master the text’, making it possible to know much aboutChrist, and the idea of salvation. We tick off the books that we’ve read, and cracked – and don’t really need to read again. Maybe we want to read the whole Bible – or at least to have read it.But do we know Jesus? Scripture is not an end in itself. Jesus is Lord, the centrepiece of Scripture. He calls us to learn from him together with our brothers and sisters in the Church as we build the Kingdom of God.”
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