Foundational training for group leaders. (5 studies)
Studies covering Book Two of the Psalms, which leads us from dark places to the triumphal return of God’s king. (9 studies)
Most pastors at one time or another have had a conversation with someone engaged in ministry, when they tell us things aren’t going so well. It can be hard to diagnose the problem in the moment. Maybe the person is over it or burnt out, too busy elsewhere, or wanting to try something new.
A collection of things worth reading from around the web in the last week.
Regularly when I sit down with someone, they’ll use the phrase ‘called to ministry’. I don’t have a dislike of this phrase, it can be very useful—only when most people use it, it isn’t.
The third in this series on reading the Bible well. This time John looks at how knowing that God's word is his changes how we approach it.
Amidst all the sound and fury about same-sex marriage, it’s often hard to find a straight-forward, clear, thoughtful Christian defence of what marriage is. Sandy Grant has had a crack, and a very good one, in this recent public lecture at St Michael’s Wollongong.
I am a reluctant convert to the Swedish Method for Bible study. I read the Briefing article all of those years ago and decided to try it out in a couple of Bible study groups. It didn’t work! It didn’t seem to make group members think deeply enough about the passage, and it seemed to promote surface-level easy answers.
David Jackman covers 2 Corinthians, highlighting Paul's message that we need to look to Jesus alone for all life and hope. (10 studies)
Sympathy cards address the sadness death causes, but few acknowledge the rage. Yet that rage is real. It should be: death is the very opposite of God and all that he has created. We should hate it. Christ did.