How do you change the culture of a church?We talked about this question quite a bit at the ‘Trellis and Vine Workshops’ that Col Marshall and I had the privilege of leading recently in the US. It was an issue that many of the pastors at the workshops felt keenly.Take
What do you think of the following piece of writing?The first option is rather than mirroring, imaging, reflecting, showing God we turn the mirror round and we become absolutely enamoured with, infatuated with, ourselves. That is, you get concepts of self-esteem, self-love, and Maslow with his hierarchy of needs said
'The Other Jesus' is a six panel fold out leaflet which challenges the reader to find out about the real Jesus by reading the Gospels. Useful for: Christmas giveaways; leafleting/doorknocking; missions; inserting into Christmas cards.
I still remember the first time I heard Phillip Jensen preach. It was in February 1981, and I was a fresh-faced, charismatically-inclined young Christian, just down from the country, eager to learn and grow, and ready to take on the world.At St Matthias that night I heard preaching like I
I’ve been thinking a lot about emotions recently. This, of course, may be precisely my problem. I shouldn’t be thinking about emotions; I should just be feeling them. At least that’s what people tell me. Emotions, I am assured, are an important part of who we are as humans
It was more than your average laid-back, phlegmatic Aussie could take: for about the 47th time in one day, an American pastor with a warm smile was shaking my hand and thanking me so much for the work I was doing and the valuable contribution Matthias Media was making to
Some parents resent being the taxi driver. I offer to do it whenever I can. When else do your teenagers actually consent to sit within 10 metres of you, let alone talk to their friends while you listen? And besides, the opportunity to pay out their appalling music
One of the more fascinating books I read last year had the ironic title The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book. It was a book seeking to persuade me that books are history. The author, Sherman Young, ran the provocative thesis that a ‘book’ was not the outer
Tony Payne finds his spiritual ancestors in 19th-century American Methodism, and pinpoints what drove them (and him) to seek the miraculous.In 2008, during some research for a paper on the history of ‘deliverance ministries’, I found myself ferreting around in 19th-century American Methodism.Fascinating, I hear you groan.It was for me,
The Essential Jesus combines the strengths of Two ways to live with the powerful story of the Gospel of Luke, to offer "the dream evangelistic product". (Large print edition)