Chalmers' Blog

Dangerous Discipleship

Discipleship is a word that is thrown around a lot in churches and Christian circles today. it’s become a bit of a buzz word. Every church or Christian will have their own idea of what discipleship looks like. For some it will mean sitting in skinny jeans sipping hipster coffee whilst reading the Bible. For others it will mean walking along the beach talking about the ups and downs of the Christian life. For others it will mean opening up your home and bringing someone into the family. Discipleship takes on many different shapes and sizes.

But there’s a type of discipleship that does more damage than it does good. We’re all aware of practices that are harmful to people and so we stay away from them. But there are subtle things that we do that can harm people and you may not even realise it’s happening.

Book Review Batch…

One day I need to send you all a picture of my ‘to review’ shelf. It is a wonderful gift that keeps on growing, which I really enjoy. There are a huge range of books that I try to review one by one. However, it’s been a while since I did a longer post with a good number of books on it. So, here goes. Hopefully this will give you an insight into some of the great books out there, but also the huge variety of stuff that I read.

Saturday Snippets (October 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…

Where is God in all the Suffering?

Suffering is a common experience to the majority of people in the world. It may be illness, it might have been a rough upbringing or it may take the form of witnessing someone else’s suffering. Suffering is not a stranger to the mortal man. Therefore, it makes sense that the question a lot of people ask is “Where is God in all the suffering?” Here’s Amy Orr-Ewing’s new book on that very question…

Saturday Snippets (October 3)

True Friendships and the Church Today…

Friendship, true friendship, is a wonderful thing. It’s much more than just seeing someone on a Sunday and asking how their week was. To maintain a friendship is time consuming, a person much be dedicated and willing to sacrifice. We need friendships like that of David and Jonathan (for example, 1 Samuel 18:1-5) in the church today. Here’s why…

5 Marks of a Gospel Church

1 Thessalonians has been one of my favourite books of the Bible for a long time. I studied it early on in Bible College and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I was sent Sam Gordon’s easy read commentary ‘5 Marks of a Gospel Church’ I was pretty excited

Saturday Snippets (September 26)

Caring For Yourself is also Caring For Others

I think the majority of people will agree that they like to care for and look after other people. We like to spend time with others, make sure that they are as okey as they can be and that they feel loved.

Here Are Your Gods!

It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve started actually watching the news and thinking about politics. Previously I wouldn’t have bothered with politics at all. I didn’t understand it (still not sure I do!) and I saw how so many people argued over their particular political stances. So imagine my own shock when I found myself reading a book about politics in 2020! This is a great book because it looks at idolatry and how that relates to politics today. Even if you’re not a fan of politics, this is a really good read.