Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
The lectionary is not a perfect way to read the Bible. Passages are sometimes edited in an odd way; the choice of coverage is at times frustrating; the way the gospels are presented is not always convincing. But it is a good deal better than not reading the Bible at all, and if you are …
One of the slightly odd things about the Christian church is that there is no agreed pattern to what we should do when we meet together. In the Western (and probably the global) church, there seem to me to be three different strands of emphasis: We meet to experience an affective encounter with God (charismatic/Pentecostal) …
I have a guilty secret. Every Saturday morning, whenever I am at home, I have a lie-in—not just any old lie-in—it follows a particular routine. I get up, go downstairs, and take our dog for a walk. Then I prepare breakfast and take it upstairs again, and my wife and I have breakfast in bed. …
This is a guest post by Amanda Digman, who is Vicar at St John the Baptist, Carlton in Nottingham. A while ago I discovered a book: 99 Things to Do Between Here and Heaven, by Peter Graystone. I love lists, so I thought I would have a go at working my way through the book. Inside, I …
I have become unexpectedly gripped by the new sci-fi drama on Channel 4, Humans—and I am not the only one. It has become Channel 4’s biggest drama since The Camomile Lawn in 1992. It is set in an alternative present, where robots have been developed far enough to look human and are known as ‘synths.’ …
I have spent more than 30 years giving feedback and encouraging others to do so in a range of professional, personal and ministerial contexts. These have included being a personnel professional in an FMCG multi-national, being an ordained leader working with lay and ordained colleagues, and in the context of theological education. As a result …
Earlier this week, my friend Richard Moy posted a bit of a rant about his experience of visiting cathedrals. Why is it, he asked, that when there is a marvellous opportunity to explain something of the gospel to people who might not otherwise here it, was nothing done about it? In all the services I …
In a post-Christendom culture, should Christians look different from those around them and keep their distance, or engage with culture and not look too distinctive? This has been a challenge for the church down the ages, but it has a particular edge to it in times of cultural change, particularly when it feels as though …
Today’s is a guest post from Beth Rowland, a student at the University of Nottingham who attends St Nic’s. The concept of Live Below the Line, spending just one pound a day on food, was something I’d heard of before May 2015, but not something I had ever considered doing myself. The idea terrified me – …
The ‘mark of the beast’ in Rev 13.18 is the most notorious and talked-about aspect of the book. [The beast from the land] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or …
Guest post by Eddie Arthur of Wycliffe Bible Translators and Global Connections A few weeks back, Ian asked which were the ten books that had shaped your life and ministry. Over the years, I’ve posted various lists of the best books on mission and missiology on my own blog, but I’ve never really pondered which ones …
