Who were the Anabaptists?
If you’ve ever wondered, this one gives you a handy introduction.
Six Ways to Improve Your Church’s Prayer Meeting
This is a set of suggestions from Charles Spurgeon. I think they all still hold up well today.
Are Anglican patterns of leadership biblical?
As an Independent and a Baptist, I am inevitably going to say ‘no’ to this question. You can get a copy of my upcoming book on eldership to see what I understand biblical eldership and leadership to be. But this one explores (not entirely uncritically) Anglican leadership patterns from an Anglican perspective.
How Can the Church Care for Its Disabled Members?
This one answers the question it poses. None of it is rocket science, but it is helpful to think about purposefully so we can best serve disabled members of our church family.
How we live affects what we believe
It is often noted that what we believe affects how we live. That is certainly true. But it is less often recognised that sometimes how we live affects what we believe too. This one looks at the symbiotic nature of action and belief.
On Aesthetics
The always provocative Steve McAlpine hits an ugly Protestant nail on the head. Beauty matters and it is good in its own right; it is a gospel value. The question is, why do we so often actively eschew it?
From the archive: When things just (don’t) work
‘I am not averse to getting new tech and toys. I must admit I quite link having a tinker with new stuff. But I am also aware that I quickly reach the limits of what I know. And when I do, I tend to start wishing that the thing would just work how it’s supposed. Sadly, the existence of sin in the world means things just don’t work as they’re supposed. Sin has tarnished everything. Ever since Adam thought that bit of fruit looked nice, stuff stopped working as it was meant to do. Stuff and people.’
It’s a source of continual frustration that many linked articles do not allow feedback by a comments function. On the one by Steve McAlpine I would respond to “As someone who loves modernism, its rich sleekness and functionality, I see no reason why such things cannot be included in a new church building.” by saying that there may be people (I’m one of them) who loathe modernist design, and would find it a very unpleasant experience to spend any time in the church building in the illustration at the head of the article. I guess the problem of trying to please everyone comes down to having a bland interior styling that is inoffensive to everyone.
And I hope the blog owner here won’t mind me pointing to another post on Steve McAlpine’s blog published the day after the one on aesthetics. It’s a powerful piece of writing in response to Justin Welby’s recent interview at the Cambridge Union and his implication that the church should hold views which are compatible with those of the 21st century.
SMcA opposes such notions of compatibility: “I can tell you right now, this quiet revival we are hearing of, this turning up at churches by young people disillusioned by the 21st century, wracked by the pain and despair of trying to be compatible with the 21st century’s sexual ethic, its work ethic, its identity markers, its shibboleths and cancellations, its meaning and purpose vacuum, – they are no longer looking for something that looks like what the 21st century values! They have tried compatible and it has crushed them. … The church grows and moves and gains ground the less compatible it is with every century. That’s the superpower of the church right there.”
From: https:// stephenmcalpine. com/justin-welby-and-incompatible-thick-communities/
I’m more than happy for you to make the comments here. I can’t honestly say Steve McAlpine will see them here though. He might – I know he has read some of mine just as I read much of his – but no guarantees. But I am happy to give space to the comment here nonetheless.