Lessons learnt from doing all age services
I thought this was an interesting reflection on having children in the service with the adults.
Why you can trust the New Testament even though there are textual variants
‘There isn’t one, single, original, preserved copy of the New Testament. So how can you trust the text of the New Testament when all the earliest copies disagree with each other?’
Two delusions that can threaten any church
It is important to recognise the pitfalls of believing either the people belong to the pastor or that the pastor belongs to the people. Both belong to Christ.
Parents of trans kids speak out
This one is difficult to read but it bears hearing.
White saviours don’t harness the wind
Eddie Arthur’s article reflecting on mission in Africa has a lot to say to those seeking to ‘do something’ for people in any deprived community too. ‘I’m not saying that we shouldn’t provide help where it is needed in Africa, far from it. However, our help and support should not imply that Africans are completely without agency in their own situation.’
Sin is cosmic treason
‘“The sinfulness of sin” sounds like a vacuous redundancy that adds no information to the subject under discussion. However, the necessity of speaking of the sinfulness of sin has been thrust upon us by a culture and even a church that has diminished the significance of sin itself. Sin is communicated in our day in terms of making mistakes or of making poor choices.’
From the archive: Limited room for mavericks
‘We too readily mark people as maverick and fail to support them adequately when they need help whilst supporting those who ingratiate themselves to us who, later, prove that they were all about getting what they need from us or advancing up a greasy pole that should never exist. All too often church members, or entire churches, are denied the help they need when they need it until such time as they have proved they are not an issue to us. The problem is that by the time they have proven their value, or their kosher credentials, their most serious time of need has passed. They have either died or become self-sufficient.’