Being a disciple of Jesus can be a risky business. Shahbaz Bhatti was minorities minister in Pakistan and motivated by Christian conviction he worked to defend the rights of the marginalised in his country. He knew that this was a dangerous calling, but he kept to it. Of whom the world was not worthy…
Tag: Christian Life
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Mission Spirituality
Any kind of mission activity must be accompanied by a mission spirituality if it is not to degenerate into activism. Mission spirituality is concerned with the spiritual resources from which mission springs: the experience of God that initiates the reading of Scripture that guides, and the prayer life that sustains the missionary or the movement […]
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The American Dream
I’m not a great fan of mega churches, but even I can’t help but be excited by this amazing article from David Platt, senior Pastor of a 4,000 people congregation in Alabama. We American Christians have a way of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus that we […]
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The Person in the Next Seat
Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of my life sitting in aeroplanes. I’ve done so much travelling, that once or twice I’ve been upgraded to business class, but the vast majority of my flying hours have been spent in the cramped seats at the back of the plane. For me, the height of luxury […]
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The Bible as Scripture
I take the claim, the Bible as Scripture to refer to a theological stance whereby we recognize that we are the people of God to whom these texts are addressed. This leads us to the realization that the fundamental transformation that must take place is not the transformation of an ancient message into a contemporary […]
This is the sermon that I preached at Christ Church Flackwell Heath on Sunday October 31. There are a couple of videos in the middle of the sermon which probably won’t work very well on the MP3. There is also a segment where I ask people to come forward and share their expriences of hearing […]
My friend Dave has written an extremely powerful piece for the Wycliffe Bible Translators Magazine; Words for Life. Anée wept bitterly as she held her baby close to her chest. She was filled with a confusion of anger, grief and guilt. She was supposed to have taken the medicine herself and the baby would have […]
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God’s Plan for My Life
Many Christians that I have come across are fascinated, obsessed even, with discovering God’s plan for their lives. I must admit that I’ve never really had a sense of any plan in my life. I’ve gone from one thing to the other as it seemed right at the time, if there is a plan in […]
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Burnout
Image from ASBO Jesus. I was intrigued that Think Christian should have an article on Clergy Burnout on the same day that Jon Birch posted the cartoon above. It is well worth reading this article, especially the comments. I found this one very insightful: You only find the word Pastor mentioned once in the New […]
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Peace
I’ve not done a survey or anything, but I suspect that most Christians would say that peace was important to them. Mind you, I also suspect that many Christians might be a little hazy about what they actually mean by peace, but they know it is important! Lately, I’ve found myself reflecting on what we […]