Gay marriage, integrity and the church

One of the issues that has kept surfacing in the last few months, in the rapidly changing scene relating to same-sex relations, gay marriage, and the church, has been the question of integrity. Is the Church doing one thing, but saying another? Jeffrey John pointed out some time ago that much of the Church’s current … Continue Reading

Is Christianity tolerant?

I recently gave a short talk to the Nottingham Theology Network, part of UCCF’s work with students, on the question of tolerance. Having wondered how much I knew about the subject, I came to realise that it touches on some central issues of faith and mission. Here are my assorted reflections. First, it is interesting … Continue Reading

A lot of nonsense about World Vision

They say that, in war, the first casualty is truth—and in the war of words about World Vision USA’s decision to change their terms of employment this certainly seems to be the case. Richard Stearns, President of World Vision USA, announced in an interview with Christianity Today that its policy restricting employment to Christians who … Continue Reading

Can leaders say ‘I am sorry—I was wrong’?

Mark Driscoll is a controversial figure, even in America. He has hit the headlines for a variety of reasons, including preaching that ‘God hates you‘ based on a verse in the Psalms. (If nothing else, this is useful in raising question about biblical interpretation!). In more academic circles, his work has raised serious questions about … Continue Reading

Celebrating an Ordinary Joe

Today is the feast of Joseph of Nazareth in the Common Worship and Revised Common Lectionaries. Reading about him this morning reminded me of an excellent reflection on Joseph by Mark Greene of LICC from 2009. It is a great example of a short, rhetorically crafted reflection—and also offers plenty to think about. Ordinary Joe … Continue Reading

Unhitching women from gays

The slightly odd title to this post arises from a conversation I had with a friend last week. We were (in passing) noting the tone of the public discussion since the House of Bishops’ statement on same-sex marriage, and the response to the Pilling report, and she commented: Of course, I cannot say anything—because I … Continue Reading

Famous, Rich and Hungry…and Human?

I was incredibly moved by the second episode of Famous, Rich and Hungry tonight. If you didn’t get a chance to watch it, then do so if at all you can. The four wealthy celebrities  each moved to a second location, to see if they could apply what they had learnt from their first experiences … Continue Reading

Cringe-free All-age Worship

On Sunday I helped to lead an all-age service at St Nic’s, where I am Associate Minister, looking at the story of Jonah. I had some interesting and encouraging feedback from the congregation; one person told me that they had brought a family they knew along, and that they so enjoyed it, they were planning to come … Continue Reading

How to Blog 2: building

This is the second of three posts exploring in turn how to start, build and share a blog. The first part can be found here. A few years, it used to be fairly easy to find out how to start and build a blog, as blogging was a fairly new thing, and most bloggers saw … Continue Reading

Is God a murderer?

In the March edition of Christianity magazine, Steve Chalke launched what he described as a new debate the authority and interpretation of the Bible, and called for a ‘global conversation’ to begin. He has included some resources around this on the Oasis site. Some people have given the whole enterprise pretty short shrift: There will be no … Continue Reading