Ministry. Theology. Culture.
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Interpassive Piety
Convenience can be a costly thing, and the assistance offered by technology can have an adverse effect on our ability to function as people. This is a truth well acknowledged in the wider world where the prevalence of apps, algorithms, and hacks can truncate our ability to order our own lives, or to hone our…
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The Reformers and the Knowledge Economy
Reformation Day can be both a help and a hindrance in ministry in the 21st century. If our adherence to its truths and our interest in its main figures begins and ends with a nostalgic harking back to a bygone age, or an anachronistic copy and paste of certain mannerisms and quirks of Luther or…
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3 Reasons to Keep Going as a Pastor
Broadly, if not universally, these are extremely tough times to be a Pastor. Compared with the searing persecution of previous generations, or the relative penury of our nearer forbears, we do of course have it easy, but Pastors today are facing unique pressures. Following the shutdown of our public worship services globally, the diminishment of…
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Regather. Rejoice. Lament. Rebuild.
Church families are returning to their buildings once again in the UK and Ireland, after a break of almost four months. For many this is a welcome signal that some semblance of normality is once again being recovered, for others it is a time of intensified anxiety over what feel like huge steps forward in…
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Even this, Lord Jesus?
Ours is a hyperbolic age, a time when words have become a devalued currency, where sentiment often masks a lack of substance, and where things that seem too good to be true most often are. In this kind of atmosphere it can be difficult for us to give oxygen to the comforts and counsels of…
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Pastors, Covid, and Criticism
As the barriers erected by Covid 19 in the UK and Ireland start to lift a little, the prospect of being able to gather for public worship is beginning to glimmer on the horizon. Governmental sanction for regathering is simply affirmative of what many church leaders have been feeling – we are almost at the…
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5 things that I can do about racism
Sometimes a problem seems so entrenched and so impossible to scale that giving up is the easiest option. That is as true of an untidy study as it is of global poverty, or endemic racism. Not knowing where to begin, and feeling unclear about what one’s responsibilities are, can lead to defeatism, defensiveness and denial.…
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Filtering for Repentance
One of the many vulnerabilities of the contemporary evangelical church is a stubborn mistaking of quantity for quality. This can be true at a local and global church level where attendances (or more recently ‘hits’ and ‘likes’) can be the marker for how well things are progressing and how much interest is being shown. It…
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Preaching under the smile and the smiting rod
As I write these words, our home has descended into the silence of sleep on a Saturday night, and I am alone in the study. In earlier, more normal days, these were the moments when the Lord’s Day, the pulpit, and the task of preaching were given final reflection. These were the hours in which…
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Some implications of an empty pulpit
Whether your cup is half empty or half full in the current global crisis, whether you credit or descry online ministry, the fact cannot be avoided that the era of vacant church buildings and silent pulpits is a significant and sad chapter in the history of the church. We are in the midst of a…
THINKING PASTORALLY 