Devoted to ministry and prayer

Everyday Ministry, Life, Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel

flickr: notsogoodphotography

You know those times when you read a Bible passage so familiar that you barely see it any more? Then a word or phrase jumps out at you, your perspective shifts, and you see it clearly. It’s like those 3D puzzles where the picture suddenly comes into focus.

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When your children are sick

Life, Sola Panel

flickr: kourtlynlott

I woke up this morning with a headache. There’s nothing remarkable about that; but as I stood at the bench and gulped down a couple of pain killers, I was reminded of how unpleasant a headache can be, and how easy it is for me to get rid of it.

It’s not so easy for my son. (more…)

Wanted: more church invaders

Everyday Ministry, Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel

flickr: The Arches

A few years ago, our family of six left a congregation full of parents with young children, and joined a church made up mostly of university students.1 This wasn’t an ideological statement on our part: it was simply because my husband works in university ministry, and that’s where we needed to be at the time. But it’s made me aware of some of the benefits and costs of going to church with people from a different age and stage from your own.

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Is parenting a vanity too?

Life, Sola Panel

I was preaching on Ecclesiastes 3 yesterday, and made what I guess is the pretty familiar point that although we experience meaning in our daily lives, we also experience the frustration, bewilderment and ‘vanity’ of life under the sun. We know that there is a bigger story—there is eternity in our hearts—and so we see the beauty or appropriateness of different things that happen (a time for this and a time for that). And yet God has also made sure that we “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (v. 11). There is a frustrating opacity to life that is meant to humble us, and lead us to fear God (v. 14). (more…)

Reading the Bible with kids – even the hard bits

Everyday Ministry, Life, Sola Panel

flickr: Wikipedia Commons: Michelangelo, Sistene Chapel ceiling

The first chapter of Ezekiel (let’s be honest) is some kind of weird. A wind drives an immense storm cloud from the north; four glowing creatures emerge from the cloud, each with four different faces, with two wings covering their bodies and two spread out, darting to and fro with a sound like roaring waters; wheels within wheels, one for each creature, their rims covered in eyes, move in a straight line wherever the four creatures go; and above the creatures’ wings is an expanse like crystal, surmounted by a sapphire throne on which sits a human figure, glowing like metal in a furnace. (more…)

The idols of a parent

Life, Sola Panel

flickr: mermay19

There’s nothing like parenting to reveal your true values.

My 12-year-old daughter started secondary school this year. It’s an anxious time for any parent. Your mind fills with questions: will she settle well into her new school? How will she cope with the extra homework? Will she make good friends? Will she make any friends?

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Bible reading with kids

Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel

I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially in the six-to-ten-year-old age range. I can think of several, most of which my family has tried.

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Raising kids in a sex-crazed world

Life

Imagine living in a world where husbands wooed their wives with Adam’s passion—bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh—and sex was enjoyed. Imagine living in a world where, after the stress of each day, husbands and wives found comfort in sexual intimacy as David did with his wife after the death of their child. Imagine living in a world in which the only reason for not having sex with your marriage partner was the urgency of prayer. It would be a sex-crazed world.1

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Jars of clay: Being a Christian parent

Everyday Ministry

I’m glad this article is in the Jars of Clay series. It feels like an appropriate metaphor, because there are few areas where I feel as weak and inadequate for the role God has given me than when it comes to parenting my two children. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. I suspect most Christian parents feel that inadequacy keenly. (That’s probably why over the years most people we have asked to write for The Briefing on parenting have baulked at it.) (more…)

‘Missional Lifestyle’: Education

Everyday Ministry

 

This is the fifth in Nicole’s series on ‘missional lifestyle’. Read parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

In this series I’ve been working my way slowly through various facets of life (home, education, work, sport, etc.), talking about the opportunities that each presents for being involved in the lives of others for their good and their salvation, and the idolatries that have the potential to destroy us and our witness by luring our hearts away from Christ. In this post, having set out a general framework and taken a brief look at the opportunities and idolatries of the home, I want to turn to the topic of education (our own and our children’s) and the opportunities that it provides for mission.

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An attempted collect on the regulation of bodily functions

Life

Why the need for a collect on the regulation of bodily functions?

It’s because people like me do actually pray—often with some fervour—about the bodily functions of the children for whom they are responsible. That’s right, we pray about the absence, presence, frequency, infrequency, texture, colour and quantity of poo. We do it mostly because such things can flag a problem in young children—especially when they are only a few weeks old (at least that’s why I pray about such things; others may have different reasons).

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Talking about predestination with children

Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel

It’s the question that every Christian parent knows is coming sooner or later. I’m driving when six-year-old Thomas pipes up from the back seat. We’re alone, which doesn’t happen often in a family of six, so it’s a precious time for us. Deep thoughts are clearly running through his head: “Mummy, why do some people believe in Jesus and not others?”

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Making babies when sex just isn’t enough

Life

Three things are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough”:
Sheol, the barren womb,
the land never satisfied with water,
and the fire that never says, “Enough.” (Prov 30:15b-16)

Infertility is on the rise: current statistics say it now affects one in six couples.1 If you are not personally affected, you may know someone who is, and certainly there will be couples within our churches who are struggling with infertility. With the rise of infertility and medical advances has come in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Ethics for Christians can be highly contentious, and the process and implications of IVF are no exception. We write this article to share with you our story, our struggles, our theological conclusions, our sadness and our joy. We hope that this article assists your walk through the minefield of ethical issues IVF raises for Christians.
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