I’d like to share with you something of how God has been teaching me through my personal circumstances. Your circumstances will be different, and they may include many things you would like to change, but we all have to follow Christ where we are. For me, this has meant following Christ in very different circumstances than I envisaged when I was a student over 20 years ago.
Living with grief: A personal journey
Grief is a valley through which we all must walk. But how prepared are we for the journey? Hugh Begbie shares his experiences.
Memo from the boss
A Lead Balloon
MEMO: To all staff
FROM: The company directors
Our latest management research suggests that work isn’t everything. The best employee is a well-rounded employee, and so that you can become the best employee possible, we are taking positive steps to encourage you to balance out the different aspects of your life—your family life, leisure time, physical, cultural and spiritual well-being. Outlined below is a lifestyle programme which we feel will achieve the best results for you … and for us.
Can he continue in ministry?
The Stain that Stays: The Church’s Response to the Sexual Misconduct of its Leaders
John H. Armstrong
Christian Focus Publications, 2000
The Facebook of truth
In our churches and in our outreach, questions of ‘truth’ don’t seem so important any more. Is this is a loss, an irrelevance or an opportunity? Tony Payne reviews two significant books on this subject by David F Wells.
Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World, David F Wells, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006, 339pp (more…)
Podcast: Oliver O’Donovan on ethics
Audio
Oliver O’Donovan, Professor of Christian Ethics at Edinburgh University Divinity School, talks to Tony Payne in The Briefing Lounge about evangelical ethics (MP3).
Podcast: David Jackman on preaching
Audio
Renowned British preacher and author David Jackman joins Tony Payne in the Briefing Lounge to talk about a lifetime of lessons in preaching (MP3).
Tests and trials for the rich
As I preached through James recently, I became fascinated with trials and tests. It was not just a matter of idle exegetical curiosity, since by any measure the church I am part of belongs to the wealthiest class of the most materialistic civilisation on earth. We just expect to have whatever we want and I struggle with greed as much as anyone. I concluded that being rich is a trial as much as suffering hardship. This might be a hard thing for someone who is not rich to accept—how can the rich complain?! But this appears to be the teaching of God’s word here in the letter of James.
Against Religion
Couldn't Help Noticing, Life, Sola Panel
They say that everyone has a book inside them, and fortunately, in most cases, it stays there.
Some of us have more than one.
Let’s abolish lay ministry
Everyday Ministry
There has been much talk of the difference between ‘professional’ ministry and ‘lay ministry’. But are such distinctions helpful? Gordon has a better suggestion.
A slightly arbitrary definition of ‘lay ministry’ is ‘unpaid ministry in the church performed by nonprofessionals’. The idea of ‘laity’ comes from the Greek ‘laos’, meaning ‘people’, distinct from any priestly class. Lay ministry is often associated with church work that is necessary but unpaid. Such unpaid ministry may or may not be formally recognized by a denomination or church, but it is certainly recognized by God. (more…)
Relational subordination in the Trinity
Andrew Moody responds to Kevin Giles.
Read the full response online. (Published online 30 April 2007. Accessed 30 May 2007.)
Stop Press: Dawkins converted (a daydream)
Please note: this is a work of speculative fiction.
News just in: famous scientist and former atheist Richard Dawkins says he has become a Christian after rethinking some of the arguments in his recent book The God Delusion.
Show yourself a man: Some reflections on ministering to men
Life
There’s a general consensus these days that churches aren’t as effective as they could be in reaching men. Is it because men are less ‘spiritual’ than women? Or do we need to rethink our approach? Former Army chaplain Tim Booker reports from the front lines.
Resource Talk: The genius of training
Resource Talk, Sola Panel
Training multiplies ministry, but takes time.
It was 1985, and I was a fresh-faced recruit working as a ministry trainee on the campus of the University of New South Wales. It wasn’t called MTS in those days—I think ‘Santa’s Helpers’ was the closest we got to a label—but MTS is what it was. We were let loose to learn by doing—to lead Bible studies, chase up student contacts, evangelize, preach, stack chairs, and generally anything and everything else. It was an extraordinary and life-shaping experience.
A body to die for: The very physical doctrine of the resurrection
According to the Bible, it’s the doctrine by which Christian faith stands or falls. But from the place we give the resurrection in our preaching and teaching, would anyone know? This Easter, we come to terms with the bodily aspect of the resurrection.