Month: May 2014

Is baptism enough?

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Anglicans often get into difficulties with baptism. On the one hand, there continues to be a difference of view between those who are happy with the Church’s policy of baptising people of any age (i.e. including infants) and a minority who would take a more Anabaptist position and associate baptism with articulated profession of faith by the … Continue Reading

How social media corrodes understanding

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The real danger here is a lack of critical thinking, a lack of interest in the question: ‘Yes, it might be entertaining, or engaging, or say what I want to hear—but is it true?’. There is a caricature which says that concern for the truth is the preserve of anally-retentive, awkward, conservative/fundamentalist Christians. But it is not. It should be the concern for all Christians. The way many people, and in particular Christian influencers, are using social media is corroding this concern for asking even basic questions of truth. And in turn this is corroding understanding of faith, the reading of Scripture, and even Christian discipleship. We will all be the poorer for it.

Evangelism and listening

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Like any teenager nurtured in an evangelical context, I suffered from a constant, nagging sense of guilt that I was not an evangelist. If bringing other people to faith was the main task of Christians, how come I wasn’t better at it? The trouble was, whenever I tried to be an evangelist, I just ended … Continue Reading

The most important election issue

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Polly Toynbee has set out a devastating critique of the Coalition Government’s latest initiative in its strategy of outsourcing. The most terrible power the state can wield is to take children away from their parents for ever. The idea that companies such as Serco and G4S, already under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, should be invited … Continue Reading

The end of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’

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Last Sunday morning I was speaking (briefly) on Radio Nottingham. I had been asked to come in because the presenter, Sarah Julian, had conducted an interview with Justin Welby. In it, she pressed him (several times) on what ought to happen to Jeremy Pemberton, who is the first ordained Anglican to enter a same-sex marriage, … Continue Reading

The problem with being a Red-letter Christian

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‘Red-letter Christians‘ is a movement or network in the States (primarily) initiated by Tony Campolo with the support of Jim Wallis. Alongside Campolo, another main contributor is Shane Claiborne, a leader in the New Monasticism movement. The name of the movement comes from the practice in some Bibles of printing the words of Jesus in … Continue Reading

Evangelical Alliance and Oasis Trust

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Last week the Evangelical Alliance discontinued the membership of Oasis Trust, headed up by Steve Chalke. After many months of prayerful discussion, the Evangelical Alliance council concluded that a relationship between an organisation and one of its members in which the member felt it could not comply with a reasonable request from council, was not … Continue Reading

Responding to Rev

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Jeremy Fletcher thinks there should be no more blog posts about Rev—so this, I promise, will be my last (of only two!). But my reflection here is less on Rev itself, and more in reactions to it, and why they have been so polarised. This was shown starkly in comments on my Facebook post. I … Continue Reading