Chalmers' Blog

Kid’s Corner

If we want the children in our churches to grow up to be strong believers, then we need to teach them. We need to teach them the truth. They will be confronted with lies as they grow up. Their faith will be challenged. They must be prepared for that battleground. The training of kids doesn’t start when they become pre-teens or teens, it must start young. Here are some resources to help…

Saturday Snippets (April 10)

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…

Pastors, platforms and pedestals

Pastors can be loved by their congregations. That is a good thing. It’s good for faithful ministry to be appreciated and celebrated. The Church is full of many gifted pastors who preach faithfully and point people to Jesus. But there are also dangers. For example, one danger is that pastors are put on a pedestal and nothing they do is ever seen as wrong. but another danger is that pastors can be tempted to also look for a platform. Let’s look at both sides of that dangerous coin…

Journal each sermon…

I have written before on the topic of taking notes during a sermon, why I think it’s helpful and a few suggestions on different ways to approach notes. I have also written about ways to help you remember what you read in your personal devotions and little tips that might help you out. Every now and then some resources come my way out of the blue, or people drop me a message and ask me to review their stuff. It can be quite fun. Some are more helpful than others. But if it is something that can help you continue to learn and apply God’s Word after a Sunday morning, I’m interested.

Saturday Snippets (April 3)

Go Outside Your ‘tribe’

I’m not a fan of labels. But that’s probably a whole different blog post in itself. Labels don’t often fit. They can cause misunderstanding where it doesn’t exists. But labels also create the potential danger that we only gather around likeminded people and create a hive mind, in the negative sense. This is usually called a ‘tribe’. That’s another word I’m not a fan of in the Christian world, but you get what a mean. It’s an unhelpful term because it makes an ‘us vs them’ mentality. It can draw lines where there shouldn’t be any. Having ‘tribes’ means that we’re more likely to ignore certain parts of the Church and surround ourselves with carbon copies of ourselves.

Being surrounded by likeminded people isn’t bad. However, being surrounded ONLY by likeminded people isn’t great…

Hope in the face of suffering

Suffering. Christians are not saved from it. The whole world is subject to it. Suffering may not be something that you’re going through right now, but if it hasn’t already come, it most likely will in the future. How can we find hope in the face of suffering?

Saturday Snippets (March 27)

Charisma does not equal Christlikeness

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about pastors and church leadership. I’ve spent time particularly focusing on what qualities churches should be looking for in a pastor. In the midst of this, I read an article (which to my knowledge has since been removed) arguing that pastors were leaving pastoral ministry because they weren’t qualified.

It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but it does have mileage. But is the pastor to blame? I’m not convinced. Churches run the problem of hiring a charismatic pastor or leader because they attract people. But the Bible calls for character, not charisma.

Both–And; Understanding Apparent Contradictions in Christianity

When you first hear about God and Christianity there can seem to be contradictions. Such apparent contradictions are often raised in evangelism and in discussions of what the Christian faith is all about. How do we understand the apparent contradiction that the Bible says Jesus is both full man and fully God? Or that Christians are both slaves and free in Jesus? It is important for every Christian to wrestle with these apparent contradictions and to understand that we are not to go to extremes or take on an ‘either/or’ mentality.