politics & policy
Do you pray for our Parliament? Now is the time.
David Burrowes
St Paul wrote about its primacy, Christian political greats like William Wilberforce banged on about it and Parliament can’t begin without it. What am I talking about? Prayer of course!
We look on politics and our leaders with a variety of feelings: ranging from a healthy Romans 13 respect to a cynical ‘Have I Got News’ sigh. But do we really pray for them?
Do banks hate churches? Are Christians being mistreated?
Paul Houghton
Churches have become increasingly wary of big banks.
I attended several Christian conferences last year, and, at each one, someone raised concerns about de-banking (the closure of a person or organisation’s bank account by a bank that perceives them to pose a risk to the bank).
South Asian interchange
The cost of following Jesus
Rani Joshi
In recent months, as I’ve been meeting more South Asian believers who have come from other faiths, I questioned if we really understand the cost of following Jesus and what discipleship looks like for those who have come from a different faith. Especially from a ministry context.
Over 5.5million people in the UK are from a South Asian background and do not know Jesus. If mission and evangelism is at the heart of what you are doing, then it’s important to understand how to help people transition well, remain in their communities and culture (if they feel called to).
everyday theology
Are you a ‘real sinner’?
Michael Reeves
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
youth ministry
Should we give our youth a seat at the table?
Robin Barfield
How do you decide on your youth group programmes? Perhaps it is a sense of, ‘I would like to teach this part of the Bible next.’ I know that I have done that through the years. And that is okay; if I am enthused and being changed by Jesus from the text, then that will be infectious.
Perhaps it is a sense of, ‘I think the young people need…’ This is also okay, as it considers the young person, and it is seeking to address a perceived need or issue. Do we include the young people in shaping the programme?
He earned money fighting - now he is a ministry assistant
Jonathan Winch
‘If you ever lose a fight, you’ll have me to reckon with.’
Lucian Dumitrescu’s father was a man’s man, and he had no time for losers. Lucian only knew he had to do whatever it took to be stronger, faster and better trained than the other men he encountered in the back streets of his notorious Romanian neighbourhood. It wasn’t long before he was earning good money fighting – mostly illegally.
music
A bigger view of Jesus
Ben Slee
In July, I had the privilege of attending the Worship God conference run by Sovereign Grace Music in Louisville, Kentucky.
We dwelt upon how our union with Christ shapes our Christian lives and our congregational worship. It was a blessed time of faithful preaching and rich times of singing. Two things in particular stood out to me:
sport watch
Praying in the face of failure
Jonny Reid
How should sportspeople pray? Can they pray to win?
A wealthy widow called Proba asked a similar question to one of the greatest theologians of the first millennium, Augustine. Augustine majored on one main theme in his advice around prayer:
everyday evangelism
The question that could change someone's life in church
Mike Hood
Have you ever spent ages looking for a bunch of keys that were in your pocket all along? Or frantically searched for a pair of glasses that were actually on your face?
I wonder if we do that with our evangelism sometimes. It’s absolutely right for us to be looking everywhere we go in life for chances to offer someone the good news of Jesus: Paul tells us, 'Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.' But how often do we miss a wonderful opportunity that’s sitting right beside us on a Sunday morning?
Are people with disabilities excluded from ministry?
Kay Morgan-Gurr
Did you know there are different models of disability?
The two main ones are the ‘medical’ and ‘social’ models. I asked AI (artificial intelligence) to sum them up for me and it did a reasonable job of describing what they are:
‘Refresh yourself constantly in knowledge of the glory of God...’
John Woods
en reviews editor John Woods speaks to Michael Reeves. Reeves oversees the work of Union School of Theology, and teaches in the areas of systematic and historical theology and also on preaching and spiritual formation. He is a local church minister, Director of the European Theologians Network, and speaks and teaches regularly worldwide. Previously he has been Head of Theology for student organisation UCCF and an Associate Minster at All Souls, Langham Place. He is married to Bethan and they have two daughters.
JW: What do you do when you are not preaching, teaching or writing?
defending our faith
The training challenge
Chris Sinkinson
One of the great challenges facing the church is how we train the next generation of apologists, pastors, evangelists and other workers.
The needs are great. I know many churches who are looking to recruit pastors but struggling to find someone appropriate. Likewise, how do we train apologists? Many online apologists using YouTube and other forms of social media are self-taught, mean well, but sometimes mislead.
Remembering why we preach the Bible
Robin Sydserff
When a minister comes to the end of their time serving in a church, it is a time for reflection. For me, 15 years as Senior Minister of Chalmers Church in Edinburgh is coming to an end, and I find myself in reflective mood.
In his book Transforming Preaching (Christian Focus), David Jackman reminds us that the health and effectiveness of both our individual Christian lives and our corporate church communities are directly dependent on the ministry of God’s word. Prayer and the ministry of the word are the indispensable core of all Christian ministry.
If you’re a Bible-believing evangelical Christian, you will vote for Trump
Richard Morgan
I had once assumed that while ‘evangelicals’ overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, the word ‘evangelical’ was loose. I assumed a cultural sense to the word ‘evangelical’.
Surely, if you were serious about your faith, your Trump-mania would be dialed down? Surely, it would be the racist, xenophobic ‘evangelicals in name only’ – who rarely attend church, and have a cultural and not a personal faith – that were behind the rise and presidency of Donald J. Trump.
Why everyone should read this re-issued JI Packer essay
Bishop Wallace Benn
A very helpful and powerful essay by the late Dr J I Packer, critiquing and exposing the mindset of the errant Church of England bishops who have acted so dishonourably and unbiblically over sexuality, has been re-issued as a free down-loadable pdf by the Latimer Trust.
In the essay, called Never mind the quality, feel the width: comprehensiveness in the Church of England which was written some time ago, Jim Packer analyses four different kinds of views about 'comprehensiveness' which Anglican leaders hold.
sport watch
When hoping is exhausting
Rosie Woodbridge
This was the moment. Expectation was high. Matt Hudson-Smith was about to be the first Briton to win 400m sprinting gold since Eric Liddell exactly 100 years ago.
Oh, how he deserves this. After the dark years of 'absolute hell', where he struggled with debt, loss of sponsors, injuries and even attempted suicide.
history
Unashamedly experiential
Michael Haykin
Brilliana Harley (1598-1643) was a prolific letter writer. Close to 400 of her letters written from 1623 until her death in October 1643 have survived. They provide a detailed picture of her married life with husband Robert, the outbreak of the Civil War in Herefordshire, and the life of a family at odds with local political sentiment. The majority of these letters are to her eldest son Edward, or Ned, as she calls him.
Edward Harley (1624 –1700), Brilliana and Robert’s eldest son, went up to Magdalen Hall at Oxford University in 1638, which was to Oxford what Emmanuel College was to Cambridge, namely, a seedbed for Puritanism.
Ruth Evans
Glen Scrivener
Phil Moon
