“I’ll pray for you.”
“I’d love to give money to support that gospel or mercy ministry.”
“I’ll be part of that Bible distribution.”
This is a raw topic for me. My heart pours out for every good work. I want to support gospel ministries and pray for people. On so many things, I have all the right intentions, but not all the right carry through. (more…)
I’m preaching on Ezekiel 4-24 this week. And I’ve been reading it through. I can’t help wondering, in light of Ezekiel 16 and 23, what the modern equivalent might be. Perhaps it would go something like this: (more…)
I’ve argued in a previous post that self-knowledge is critical for anyone who is serious about pursuing godliness and serving others. It is the junior partner to the knowledge of God, but it is still essential. As I stated there, the basic reason for this conviction is theological. However, I also think that self-knowledge is important because of observation. Over the years, I have witnessed people come unstuck, and it often appeared to me that many of these cases were because they didn’t have a good understanding of themselves.
The New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible was good. Really, really good. So good that even the bits that weren’t quite as good were still pretty good. I used mine as my regular daily Bible for many years. (more…)
One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that it’s always a good idea to know who’s telling you the story and why they are telling it. These are particularly important questions to ask when it comes to telling the story of sex in our society. (To see why telling the story of sex is important, see my original post on writing an evangelistic talk about sex.) In God’s kindness, while wandering aimlessly around the net earlier in the year, preparing for a talk on pornography (there’s a theme here!), I stumbled across a fascinating masters thesis on sex in advertising by Ilona Pawlowski at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. (more…)
Going on to the mission field for the first time is full of new experiences. We’ve been in Mexico for six months now, and the list of things I’ve learned in that time is as long as a Mexican bank queue (but also quite funny in some places!). As well as learning how to eat a shredded tongue taco, one important issue I’ve had to think about is what to say when you write a supporters newsletter. (more…)
I have come to the point where I think self-knowledge is one of the great overlooked virtues in the path to godliness and effective ministry.
Drawing on Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor, David Williams explains to pastors why one-to-one Bible reading is well worth their investment. (more…)
It is almost a given today that history is oppressive. That is why there has been so much hoo-ha about how it has been taught over the last 30 years. Everybody wants their say: if you’re a woman, you need a woman’s history; if you’re gay, you need a queer history; if you’re black, you need a black history, and so on and so forth. The making of many histories is itself a reflection of the priorities and, on occasion, the pathologies of modern society. How long, one wonders, before we get a history written from the perspective of Frank Sinatra impersonators, ginger haired people and compulsive hand-washers? (more…)
Russell de Vries has known Jesus all his life. He grew up having been taught the gospel by his parents, and remembers car conversations about the sermon and Bible during the trip home from church each Sunday. The Bible was an integral part of church and home life. Yet in spite of all this, the idea of regularly meeting one to one with someone to read God’s word was a totally foreign concept to Russell. (more…)
Many women find doing one-to-one Bible reading awkward and uncomfortable. But, as Isobel Lin suggests, a little awkwardness can be a good thing. (more…)
Col Marshall tells us why we are in as much need of ministry apprenticeships today as ever. (more…)
This half-term, my wife, Kirsten, and I (with our son Joshua happily in tow) were able to enjoy a fantastic break in Brittany with some good friends. Brittany is a lovely part of France, and we were with great company, enjoying great food and great weather. We had a fantastic time. (more…)
Paul Grimmond speaks to Paul Dale about his role as pastor of Church by the Bridge and the place of one-to-one ministry in his busy life (MP3).