One of the things that struck me recently is that I rarely read testimonies and biographies. This is largely down to the fact that the books I’m sent to review are mostly ‘Christian life’ books.
Also, I just enjoy learning new things and wrestling with theological concepts. But I often forget (and I know that it’s foolish!) that people’s stories put legs to theological concepts and we can learn so much from the experience of others.Continue reading “Listen to old stories…”
It’s always a bit awkward when I receive a copy of a testimony or biography to review. It’s awkward because you can’t really criticise someone’s life, can you?
Thankfully, I didn’t have to with this book! Continue reading “An Open Door”
It’s been nearly two years since Sabine and I moved church. We moved because I was given a job as Assistant Pastor in a different church in Edinburgh. Even though we weren’t moving city, we were still nervous about how we would manage changing church.Continue reading “Welcome and care for the new guy…”
Don’t Just Send a Resume is one of those books that you will want to read over and over again whenever you consider applying for a job in church ministry and even in para church ministry.
Have you ever considered applying for a job in your local church? Have you ever been in a church that is looking for a new Pastor? Have you ever sat on a committee that is looking for a new Pastor?
If you replied yes to any of those, then you need to get this book!Continue reading “Don’t Just Send a Resume”
It’s so easy to get pulled into the thinking that church is there to serve us, isn’t it?
People go to churches that they like, which is not always the church that they actually need. People soften the gospel message to make it nicer to hear. People can be more concerned with entertainment rather than Biblical preaching, and the list goes on. But is that what Christians are called to?Continue reading “Comfortable Christianity…”
Have you noticed how our world revolves around comfort? People speak about comfort zones and safe spaces where people can be themselves. You can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you’re comfortable with it.
This pursuit of comfort has made its way into the church.Continue reading “Uncomfortable”
One of the topics that every Bible College and seminary student, Christian and church worker will wrestle with is; how do we engage people well with the good news of Jesus?Continue reading “Engaging well…”
We are surrounded by so much information that comes across our path on a daily basis. We’re influenced by external voices in music, radio, television, and the list goes on. But, how can Christians navigate this?Continue reading “Plugged In”
One of the privileges that I’ve had over the last few years is seeing children and youth ministry within the contexts of different churches, in different countries and with different leading styles. In the most recent few years I have enjoyed leading the youth ministry in two different churches.
The question that I find myself asking, generally about children and youth ministry is, are we setting them up to fail? But this branches out into all ages, are our people taught well or are we setting them up to fail?Continue reading “Are we setting our kids up to fail?”
People love stories, it starts from a very young age and it doesn’t really go away. But how often do we think about the depth of the storybooks that we read to our children?
It would be wonderful if everyone invested just as much time in considering what to read to their children than they do in deciding what to read for themselves. Continue reading “Teach the little ones too…”
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