Is our leadership too professional?

Pastoral Ministry

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The avalanche of books, videos and seminars on ‘leadership’ continues at a maddening pace. As seems usual, Christian interest in ‘leadership’ is now catching up to where the world was about twenty years ago. (more…)

Head to head in 1 Corinthians 11

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1 Corinthians 11 is one of those passages that many of us set aside for a rainy day, when we will finally be able to sit down and try nutting it out. In this article, Claire Smith takes us carefully and systematically through the tricky world of 1 Corinthians 11. It’s the perfect companion for that rainy day.

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Straight answers to curly questions #1

Everyday Ministry

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‘Can Jesus really be as special as you say?’ Sooner or later, this question will come up when people learn that we are Christian. It may emerge in a number of forms, and be asked in a number of ways, but it is rarely far from the surface. In this three-part series, Kim Hawtrey helps us to understand this basic question in its different forms, and equips us with a variety of ways to answer it.

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Bagging the masons

Couldn't Help Noticing, Life

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Is this a new trend in religious advertising? A local newsagent has advertising printed on its paper bags—not so unusual in itself (The Sydney Morning Herald has an ad on one side). But surprisingly the Freemasons have now started advertising in this way. Describing their social responsibility, dedication to charity and community, the organization is encouraging people to inquire, presumably about joining. For a group traditionally shrouded in secrecy, this seems a remarkably public recruitment drive. Next we’ll be hearing details of the secret handshake …

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Preaching Christ as Lord

Thought

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We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord. (2 Cor 4:5)

This is the way the Apostle Paul describes his preaching amongst the Corinthians. Earlier on in the chapter, he tell us that he has turned his back on any other preaching except the plain statement of the truth. He assumes that there is a truth to be told. It can be known and it can be verified.

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Assurance

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Based on ’Assurance’ in Holiness by J. C. Ryle, first edition 1877.

Adaptation © Matthias Media. All rights reserved. Except as may be permitted by the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher.

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Leadership: Avoiding the pitfalls: A gospel of leadership

Life

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LeadershipRise was the title on the glossy brochure that I pulled out of the letterbox recently. Aside from my curiosity as to why every second seminar these days has to have the word ‘rise’ in it somewhere, my real question was: How come we’ve got this avalanche of leadership-related books and seminars? One more leaflet in the letterbox and I think I will be well and truly buried.

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Drugs in the classroom

Review

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“Genesis 1:12, sir. ‘God made every seed-bearing plant’.”

The adolescent theologian smirked in triumph. I had to admit he had a point. Didn’t God make all things, including drugs? Weren’t they to be received with thanksgiving? And yet, of course, the suffering caused by drugs is immense, both in terms of numbers of lives affected and within individuals and their families. As one student of mine wrote about the choice to take drugs:

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Promises for future men

Review

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Douglas and Nancy Wilson have written a challenging, humorous and vigorous defence of the covenantal approach to Christian family life. And, as Alan discovered, they are willing to be controversial.

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