Everyone’s a theologian…

If you read this blog regularly or if you know me and have spoken to me at all, you’ll know that I like theology. I enjoy discussing deep questions about the Bible, God and all doctrines pertaining to Christianity. I enjoy listening to and reading other perspectives that I don’t agree with to gain a better understanding of what other brothers and sisters in Christ believe.

But often I’ve heard people say “I don’t like doctrine or theology, it’s quite divisive. I prefer to have a childlike faith and leave the deep thinking to others”

I get what people are saying, Continue reading “Everyone’s a theologian…”

Who is Jesus?

I was in a shop yesterday and got into an interesting conversation with the shop keeper. The gentleman was a Sikh and we got chatting about the materialistic nature of Christmas today among other things. My wife said something along these lines “as Christians we believe that the real meaning of Christmas is Jesus Christ, the son of God, who came into the world to bring life and forgiveness. That is the real gift and meaning of Christmas.” The man agreed. Yes, maybe he was just being polite, but it got me thinking ‘people really don’t know who Jesus is, what he claimed or what he did’.Continue reading “Who is Jesus?”

My story of suffering…

For the past few years I’ve poured many hours into the topic of suffering. This is because I am a pastor at heart and I care for the concerns and pains of those around me. However, there is also a personal reason and that is that I too suffer.

In October 2013 I woke up one morning with a severe migraine that would not shift, Continue reading “My story of suffering…”

Joy in the sorrow

One of the topics that I’ve done a lot of reading on over the years, due to my own personal experience of suffering, is the very relevant topic of suffering. There are plenty of books out there on the theory of and theology of suffering and plenty of books full of testimonies of people have or are suffering. These are books that I’ve benefitted from but I really wish they didn’t have to be written. But I must say that this book made me cry Continue reading “Joy in the sorrow”

Equip and enable women to serve…

Women’s ministry is seen by many churches as a nice thing to do, it normally involves afternoon tea and craft events. Whilst men’s ministry involves curry nights and watching the football or rugby. To unpack all of that is a whole different blog post in itself. But here I want to stress the importance of Continue reading “Equip and enable women to serve…”

Unexceptional

What do you think the responses would be if you asked the average Christian; what is ministry? I think people would say Pastor, elder, they may say student pastor, youth pastor, children’s and families worker, but it generally stops there. Sadly, one of the things that is lacking in so many churches is someone who is intentionally doing ministry for women. Continue reading “Unexceptional”

Are you taking Christ out of Christmas?

The assessment of many Christians today is that, in the west at least, we live in a post-Christian society. Many people in the world think that they know what Christianity is, what Christians believe and who Jesus is. However, the minute you actually start sharing the gospel you’ll realise that people don’t really know all they think they do.Continue reading “Are you taking Christ out of Christmas?”

Christmas giveaways…

Christmas is the perfect time to give someone a little gift. What better gift to pass to someone than a small booklet that will tell them about Jesus?

Here are three small, very short, resources that you can give away. You can use these as an individual, as a church or as a family to point others to Jesus this Christmas. Continue reading “Christmas giveaways…”