Last week, I wrote Submission and the Clash of Cultures. This week I want to follow it by writing about subjugation and the clash of cultures. For in website and blog comments regarding last week’s article the clash of world views became very obvious. The word ‘submission’ is, as I suggested, the presenting issue of something much bigger; it is a difference over “the nature of marriage, of human relationships and humanity itself”. (more…)
Archives: phillip-jensen
Submission and the Clash of Cultures
Life
Behind the media brouhaha about the word “submission”, lies a clash of world views. It is a clash that feels difficult because of the heat of debate, but one that exposes something of the difference the gospel makes—not just in theory but also in practice. (more…)
The power of a dependent father
Life
When you are little your father is very big; you are weak, but he is very strong; you know very little and he seems to know everything, you feel feeble compared to his powerful presence.
When your father is very powerful, you are able to do so much. You feel safe and secure in his great arms. You are comfortable, if not confident, to ask him for anything. He takes you to places, shows you things, entertains you, houses, feeds, clothes and educates you. (more…)
Apologetic evangelism: an oxymoron?
Everyday Ministry
Apologetic evangelism is neither apologetics nor evangelism. Since the language of today is apologetic, and certainty is considered arrogance, how then can we evangelise modern, or post-modern, society? (more…)
The Two-Pronged Strategy of a Master Evangelist
Everyday Ministry
It’s amazing how culture changes and we don’t notice it. The practices that one generation took for granted become unknown, and slightly shocking, to a later generation. Even for those of us who live through the change it happens too incrementally for us to observe it. It is when we revisit the old times that we detect how much we have changed—sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and often without any real difference. (more…)
A good news story getting better
Pastoral Ministry
One of the good news stories for Christians is the ministry amongst university students, and this story is just about to get better still. For this area of effective ministry is about to see a significant increase, thanks to recent Government decisions.
Contrary to popular opinion, or that of their parents, university students are not the most important people in the world. Nor is ministry amongst them important because of some supposedly elite status—“the future leaders of industry, government and the professions”. The world may think like that, but it is not a gospel perspective. (more…)
Libertarian censorship
Life
Censorship was a debate most people thought was won (or lost) in the 1960’s. But it has been neither won nor lost—just changed—and that for the worse. (more…)
What joy in hell?
Thought
There is no joy in hell.
Its very existence reassures us of ultimate justice. Where else can the victims of the Holocaust find justice? But justice is little comfort when we consider hell’s horror. (more…)
As good as it gets
Life
“This is as good as it gets” the man assured me. I was initially shocked, but then deeply saddened by his statement. It was an astonishing statement—but there was no doubting the sincerity with which he was speaking. (more…)
The mistakes of Phillip Jensen
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
Tony Payne: Phillip, you’ve been in ministry for quite a long time…
Phillip Jensen: Well, ever since I became a Christian; that’s when you start ministering, and that was back in ’59. (more…)
What is church for?
Pastoral Ministry, Thought
We Christians are very interested in church, and we have vested interests in church. So the question of what is church—and what is it for—is important to us. But is it the right question? (more…)
An Arminian in the pulpit
Pastoral Ministry
“Be a Calvinist on your knees and an Arminian in the pulpit.” This has been the counsel to young ministers for many years. (more…)
Biblical tolerance
Life
A biblical word for ‘tolerance’ is ‘patience’. Within the Bible, patience is not just ‘passively waiting’, but ‘enduring suffering without retaliation’. (more…)
Freedom to do what you don’t like
Everyday Ministry, Life
There are two kinds of freedom. Christian freedom is the freedom to be a servant of others (Gal 5:13)—the freedom to do what I don’t like. But the freedom that allows me to do whatever I want is not Christian freedom; it is license and sometimes licentiousness. When in the name of Christian liberty, I am free to do what I wanted to do anyway, a deep suspicion enters my mind; it is not that God wants to deny me any pleasure, but that I know that my motives are corrupted by sin. (more…)
Planters versus founders
Pastoral Ministry
What’s in a name? Does it matter if we call someone a ‘church planter’ or ‘church founder’? According to Phillip Jensen, it matters quite a lot. (more…)