Give God the whole orange
Are you or have you ever been a glory thief?
Spurgeon says glory thieves are like those who suck all the goodness out of an orange before giving it to God. Instead, we need to give the Lord the whole orange, juice and all.
Rediscovering the wonder in the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper or Communion is an event which the Christian church has been celebrating for the last two thousand years. Yet in so many churches it seems to be rushed or tagged on at the end of a service; or it is a source of contention. We need to rediscover the wonder of the Lord’s Supper, understand why it has been neglected and how we can restore it.
Does it matter what you wear to church?
Are those who dress smartly in their ‘Sunday best’ for church just holding onto silly traditions? Does it matter what you wear when you worship God?
The decline of the local church
Our prayer is that people would come into our churches from the local area, saved and unsaved, to add to our numbers. Yet, I’ve been troubled in recent months by the thought that many of us don’t go to churches local to us. Instead, we go to the ones which fit our specification and forget the little faithful congregation next door.
Don’t start with your problem(s), start with God
For believers, the ultimate end-point of everything is certain: an eternity with God in paradise. But that’s definitely not always how we start when confronted with a trial or problem in the day-to-day. To endure through dark times, we must take our eyes off of ourselves and our problem(s) and fix them instead on Christ Jesus.
Learning from the Sardis church
The church of Sardis is a warning to all of our churches as we pursue growth, numbers and a thriving community. In this post, I aim to draw our attention to our hearts, and who we are really serving.
Praising God
Billy Bray was an eccentric preacher of old. He was known for spontaneously breaking out in song and dance (not unlike David, 2 Samuel 6:14). A lot of people didn’t know what to make of him, was he a raving loony or was this genuine joy in the Lord? When people complained of his over-enthusiasm, […]
Christian Music: an updated opinion piece
Psalm 96 1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be […]
Be active Christians
Josh recently did an article on prayer, which was well received. This article follows on from this. Josh correctly noted that prayer is essential; I think any Christian can agree with this. However, not all of us are prayer warriors, and we all have a different role to play in the church (Acts 6:2-4). Secondly, praying is […]
Music as a form of worship
The phrase ‘Let us start worship’ or ‘Let us begin worship’ is one that never sits easy with me. The term ‘Worship Leader’ for me doesn’t seem to be a biblical principal. In this post, I am to pick apart these terms and phrases and suggest what I believe we should be actually doing instead. […]
How should Christians respond to terrorism?
In the wake of recent horrific terrorist attacks (which are now almost a daily occurrence) in Barcelona, Finland, Russia, London and many other places, there are many different reactions. Some people are inclined to panic; others put on a show of resilience, resolve and unity; and some angrily attack back, verbally or otherwise. But how should […]
Fear and faith: some thoughts on the General Election
I think we can all agree elections and election campaigning are extremely divisive. Many worry about the outcome of the election. Meanwhile the politicians sling insults at each other, sharing untruthful and misleading memes and videos to try and win more support. They declaim the other side as evil and wrong, ‘we are the only […]