I’ve been pondering the balance between understanding the church as a signpost and the church as an outpost. Sparked by reviewing a book (Ingle-Gillis The Trinity and Ecumenical Church Thought) which drew contrast between understanding the church as the seat of Holy Spirit’s activity and the sign of his work as a visible place... Continue Reading →
The squirrel video
This video was shown after council finished. Watch for yourself what happens the day a squirrel gets loose at First Self Righteous Churchand have a laugh
BU Council
As Council moves towards a close it has been an odd few days. In many ways it has been a good council; well organised, gracious and getting through the agenda on time. However, two of the items of business have shown why denominational life can be slow going. First, the debate about women in... Continue Reading →
Council meets again
Off to Baptist Union Council again tomorrow; this usually gets me blogging grumpily from the back. I guess it is the nature of denominational gatherings that they have some inbuilt frustrations either because ‘strong leadership’ stifles debate and deliberation or a lack of coherent vision ensures endless discussion without resolution. In part the problem... Continue Reading →
Deep river?
Every so often a group of ministers emerge in Baptist life seeking to change the course of the Union. In the 1950’s it was about baptism; seeking to promote a more sacramental understanding. In the late 70’s and early 80’s concern about decline in the denomination led to the formation of Mainstream and many of... Continue Reading →
Challenge of change
Recently there has been some debate in church here about what lessons, if any, can be learnt from 'fresh expressions'. But first we need to grapple with some prior questions: how we read the Bible, how we understand culture, what the essence of church is and what it means to faithfully follow Jesus. Hermeneutics:... Continue Reading →
Images in preaching
As someone who routinely uses images as a backdrop to my preaching I was pleased to come across this site. The site isn't simply a collection of pictures but designed to use images as a means of spiritual reflection. Like other sites it will only be as good as the contributions made to it but... Continue Reading →
Free will?
Not many blog entries recently but I watched a BBC programme about the internet the other day where one of the interviewees talked about the way the web tracks the types of thing you are interested in and helps advertisers to target products. For example the way that Amazon and Youtube always have recommendations for... Continue Reading →
Christian music trends
An interesting conversation with someone involved in the Christian music scene in the UK got me thinking. Changing patterns of CD and download sales affect commercial viability making it harder for anyone not producing the ubiquitous worship album to survive and necessitating new creative solutions. Which makes me wonder:Are the days of Christian bands which... Continue Reading →
The struggle for insight against the powers of twaddle
I regularly have conversations with folk who are keen to promote ideas connected to ‘spiritual warfare’. While I hope I am gracious I am also sceptical about much of what’s proposed. It’s not that I don’t accept there are things which can’t be fitted into tight doctrinal systems, nor that I deny God is at... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 