“Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power […]
The Church in action
in 1 Peter 4 we see four clear attributes of healthy church life: “Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace […]
Church Unity
Sometimes, simply allowing scripture to speak is the best approach to tackling a subject. Why don’t you read the following words, very slowly, and then imagine a church community living this to the max. After a few minutes revisit that imaginary church but include yourself in the mix and see what impact it has upon how […]
Old Testament Monotheism
The following is taken from Christopher Wright’s excellent book ‘The Mission of God’: A broad outline of Old Testament Monotheism: The Lord alone is In relation to the heavens, the earth and all the nations: Creator The Lord made them Ps 33:6-9; Jer 10:10-12 Owner The Lord owns them Ps 24:1; 89:11; Deu 10:14 […]
My Final Day
Today is my final day working for Life Church. I am seriously blessed to have been part of such a great church for these past seven and half years! If I was to try and sum up these last years in just a few words this is what I would go for: Vision – from […]
A farewell letter to Life Church
Dear Church Family, The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentatins 3:22-23 For those of you who were with us on Sunday morning, you will know that it was our farewell Sunday at Life Church. As a result, I wanted to write […]
Love of Christ and hatred of sin
The following is a beautifully challenging line from one of the prayers from ‘The valley of vision’ (a collection of puritan prayers and devotions): “I will not love a world that crucified him, neither cherish nor endure the sin that put him to grief.”
