Rachel and I, along with some family and friends worked for a Church here in Scotland for a couple of years, being involved with youth and community work, over that time we got to know most of the kids in the small village in which we lived, a select few we got to know very well. We found out yesterday that one of the guys in that select few died over the weekend. In the Youth Group we ran, it was invariably the ones who caused the most trouble in the group received the most attention, whilst it was often a struggle, we realised for the most part the trouble caused by these young people were the natural pushing of boundaries which everyone experiences to a greater or lesser extent as they grow up. The young guy who died certainly tried to push the boundaries, but also showed signs of...
“So for example, the world is not increasingly secular. It is always secular, by definition, and the Church is here for the sake of this world. But it is not that society is secular while Christians are religious, but rather the other way around. All members of this secular society are propelled by unnameable forces, and defer to authorities that are the creations of fear and superstition. They are in denial about this, and unable to name these forces, and it is precisely this that makes these so effectively their religions. Christianity is a secular movement in that it frees us from submission to such phenomena. The gospel frees us from the gods of this world.” Taken from the Preface to The Eschatological Economy: Time and the Hospitality of God....
Im returning to our 21st Century Missions series which so far has dealt with the approach to finances in mission. You can find the rest of the posts from the series so far here. Donovan Palmer has generously offered to write the third response in the series so far, Donovan is are currently involved in leading YWAM England as well as working with YWAM International as part of the International Chairman’s Team, Donovan writes at his blog ‘A Few Thoughts‘ and you can find more info on him at his family’s blog here. · In considering financial support for missionaries to what extent do you think it is important for both the supporter and supported to think about the support as theological endorsement? Theology is important, particularly the basics… that said, more than...
Race: A Theological Account: J. Kameron Carter: Books
Appended to the end of my already long, must-read books is the above Race: A Theological account. Fortunately I am able to taste of the book through various blogs who have mentioned it and particularly Jesus Creed who have run a series on it. My interest in race and theology has been rekindled through my recent trip to South Africa where I read the fascinating "My Traitors Heart" by Rian Malan which gave a terrifying account of the feelings and actions surrounding 20th Century Apartheid. I was somewhat astounded though to read the following quote from Carter: “modern racial discourse and practice have their genesis inside Christian theological discourses and missiological practices, which themselves were tied to the...
I am back from the time off for our wedding and honeymoon and there will be some blog posts on the way soon, particularly, I hope on South Africa, which I found a fascinating country. But for now I am just pointing in the direction of things that are catching my attention on the web today: Apple are having yet another product release event today (@6pm UK time), greatest anticipation is for the new Apple Laptop range with rumours of a sub£500 laptop and an upgraded line of MacBook Pro’s. I’m looking on with hopeful optimism as they are releasing what I hope will be my next computer purchase (though not until they have filtered into the refurb section!) There are also rumours that Microsoft is looking to buy out Blackberry (RIM) which would make sense as Microsoft...
Josiah is one of those great people in my life who I dont have to see for ages and we can still hang out and have a great time. Although he may not remember it, he very patiently taught me how to play my first song on the guitar, a worship song at that. Along with being a great guitar player, is also great with words and has a big heart.He has spent the last year in Coventry with Nexus, a Christian Music School and so I thought Id ask him to write a little reflection on his time there while Im away on the idea of worship and music:I’ve been excited about writing this blog since Liam asked me to. Over this last year, the subject of worship has been brought more and more into the central focus of my life. A chance to collect some of what I’ve learned into something (somewhat) concise...
For the last few months I have been reading the blog BigBulkyAnglican by Tom Allen who worked for mission to seafarers. It was with sadness and shock that as I went to read his blog the following message was displayed: "This is Bigbulkyanglican’s daughter, am sorry to inform you that my dad, the creative and friendly giant passed away last night. We know that your thoughts and prayers will be with us; Anne, sprog 1 and sprog 2." - BigBulkyAnglican Funeral Details (next wednesday 17th Sept 08) can be found here. Maggi Dawn on Tom Allen Mission to Seafarer’s News Article on Rev Tom Allen Please be praying for his family....
Though I wouldn’t self identify with the label Charismatic, I certainly believe in what are commonly referred to as the ‘gifts’ and have observed the tradition close up in recent years. With all this said, the recent events have highlighted to me once again that the charismatic tradition needs to take a long hard look at it’s self. Lakeland was not a one-off mistake and drop of guard but as with most things of this nature, a symptom of a wider mentality held within this corner of the church. With this in mind I found my way to the Ceruleum Sanctum Blog which has a two part series on the revisions which the charismatic church (and indeed all of us who would identify as believers in the gifts) need to look at, the full 2 part series can be found here (1) and...
I was asked recently quite a common question so I thought I would share my two cents and see if any of you had any thoughts on the subject. The Question was really more of a statement which wanted an answer: "Sometimes I wonder what use theology is for real people in real churches" When seeing the enormous breadth and depth of Theology it is very easy to wonder what real use it is for the Church, when you hear of someone spending years studying the dialectic intricacies of deutero-Isaiah, the question can often be, "What does that do to build the Church?". In a world with pressing physical need, the need for Christians to live out the realities of Matthew 25:37-40 and the need for people to serve in local churches as teachers and pastors are very clear, but...
I was recently asked quite a common question so I thought I would share my two cents and see if any of you had any thoughts on the subject. The Question was really more of a statement which wanted an answer: "Sometimes I wonder what use theology is for real people in real churches" When seeing the enormous breadth and depth of Theology it is very easy to wonder what real use it is for the Church, when you hear of someone spending years studying the dialectic intricacies of deutero-Isaiah, the question can often be, "What does that do to build the Church?". In a world with pressing physical need, the need for Christians to live out the realities of Matthew 25:37-40 and the need for people to serve in local churches as teachers and pastors are very clear, but I...
I was asked recently quite a common question so I thought I would share my two cents and see if any of you had any thoughts on the subject. The Question was really more of a statement which wanted an answer: "Sometimes I wonder what use theology is for real people in real churches" When seeing the enormous breadth and depth of Theology it is very easy to wonder what real use it is for the Church, when you hear of someone spending years studying the dialectic intricacies of deutero-Isaiah, the question can often be, "What does that do to build the Church?". In a world with pressing physical need, the need for Christians to live out the realities of Matthew 25:37-40 and the need for people to serve in local churches as teachers and pastors are very clear, but I...
Believe it or not, its been a month since the last post in this series from Jamie Arpin Ricci who gave what were for me, some really insightful answers in the question of Missions funding. Here’s the second in the series from my good friend John Gillespie who interestingly enough, is also working for YWAM (you may see a pattern emerge soon) in Kona staffing Discipleship Training Schools and generally being a good guy, he is also getting married later this year to Miss Jenni Larsen. John used to blog here, but we wont hold that against him: In considering financial support for missionaries to what extent do you think it is important for both the supporter and supported to think about the support as theological endorsement? 1) I would venture to say that the emphasis of...
Here’s a great place to find free religious audio books of a catholic persuasion TheologyForum have written an interesting post on the nature of Apologetics IPSUM ESSE has written some useful reflections on Aberdeen’s Francesca Murphy’s book "God is not a Story" which cannot be purchased for any less than £60 according to my research whilst trying to find it. Brian Brock was right, he does write the cheaper books at the faculty in Aberdeen (just kidding Brian) faith and theology writes a review of Engaging the Doctrine of God which Aberdeen’s John Webster contributed to.New Kid on the Blog: theological scribbles from Robin Parry takes on a big one, Israel and the Church in his quest to lose his friends. Here is a well balanced review of The Shack,...
John Piper quotes Adoniram Judson who has some good things to say regarding missionaries - that is wherever we are called (yes, that means you), Some of these points are interesting in light of the missions series I have been running. it was so engaging I have posted it in its entirity:(Author: John Piper)
As I was working on the fifth volume of The Swans are Not Silent series about the lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John G. Paton, I found a letter written by Judson from Burma on June 25, 1832 with sobering counsel to missionaries.
Actually, these are hard and good words for all of us. Here are four of his points:
Fourthly. It may be profitable to bear in
mind, that a large proportion of those who come out on a mission to the
East die within five years after...
I was hoping to continue the 21st Century Missions series earlier this week but I have had no time to get the responses together. Thanks to everyone who has responded so far though, there are some great thoughts and it will be well worth the wait. Theologian Douglas Knight shares some interesting Barthian thoughts on Marriage from CDIII.4. Do you know of any other theological treatments of marriage? Also there is a sample chapter available from the new edition of the Church Dogmatics which will include translations of all Latin and Greek texts, presented alongside the original texts. Tom Smith at SoulGardeners writes a great reflection on how as Jesus-followers, University education should not be primarily motivated by money-making or getting the advantage but by being equipped to...
With my theological premises somewhat laid on the table, I want to move on to the first topic.I
have found it very useful in the last few years to think through things
in conversation with those from my own and other traditions, and as I
was considering mission in the ways described in my earlier post,
I realised I have not thought at length or at depth about ideas
relating to mission. Neither did I have a suitable missional vocabulary
on which to call on in order to ‘bat the ideas around’ so to speak, and
so I decided to enter into a conversation on the first subject in the series. A
conversation I am planning to hold here on my blog with people I am
connected to personally or through blogs who write well or have significant experience in the area of missional thinking and...
I have been re-thinking my conception of mission and plan to blog a short series on Missions in the 21st Century, to put a backdrop to this series I want to try and lay some of my cards out on the table, as it where, to give some clarity on why I think the way I do regarding missions:- Since being fairly young I have seen the need for the Gospel to be spread to other Nations where there is little Christian Witness or where the society is in need to an injection of Kingdom values and renewal,- I have felt that I am led in that direction of ministry, and so does my fiance Rachel,- There is nothing inherently better about doing missions outside of your own cultural context, in my mind it is a valueless distinction, whilst being an important one, such as having a Christian vocation to be in...
Not True, if you are a Christian then essentially there is no choice about whether you’re a theologian or just ’someone who goes to church’, the question is actually, are you a theologian with good theology or bad theology.Bob Kauflin has written a book, which from what I can gather speaks through the theology of worship, it’s on my wishlist and as with most books on my wishlist I’d love to read it sometime when I have the money to buy it and/or time to read it. Until that time, here’s a quote from it I found on Zach Neilsen’s site about how doctrine just makes life simpler: Theology and doctrine
make life simpler. They protect us from reading verse out of context,
restricting our diet to our favorite passages, and making decisions
based on...
Original Post here: Please Pray for the Chapmans. There’s an encouraging account of the memorial service for Maria Chapman is written by Jim Houser here.He encourages us to continue to Pray:"Friends, it was such a difficult, yet sweet time. I urge you now to
pray for this family. Be intentional. Set an alarm to go off on the
21st of every month, or anytime you see an SUV let it be a reminder, or
whenever you hear a Steven song… whatever you feel is best. As
someone who has experienced a difficult loss, some days ahead will be
difficult for this family because the rest of the world moves on and
forgets. It’s very understandable of course. If you can though,
remember to keep them in your prayers. "Similar Posts:None Found...
Please Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family as a terrible accident killed their youngest daughter and particularly for their teenage son who was driving, a memorial blog has been set up to leave your condolences with the following message:
Maria
Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter to Mary Beth and Steven
Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident in the
family driveway on Wednesday evening. She was LifeFlighted to
Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she
went home to Him… not to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a
family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours
before this close knit family was celebrating the...
Absolutely rushed off my feet at work today but managed to read this excellent Zizek quote which was related to Christian Consmerism in an excellent post by Ben Myers in his review of "Rapture Ready!" As Slavoj Žižek has observed, the logic of late capitalism presses towards the commodification of a niche identity for its own sake; the Christian merchandise I buy is not itself the desired commodity, but it is merely an ephemeral signifier of the real
commodity, which is my identity as a particular sort of Christian. In
this case, the product I am really purchasing is radically
non-material, wholly spiritual; I am purchasing religious meaning and
belonging, religious “community” (since the merchandise allows me to
participate in a specific market niche). Here, any neat...
Some intresting thoughts here on whether reformed christians
are more likely to be introvert whilst ‘missional’ types are more likely to
be extroverts. Let me know what you think about that? Something I have
been thinking about recently is how when we disect the Church we sound
very much like we think secular sociology explains and in fact defines reality more authoratatively than an account more informed by a purely Christian narrative. Are there any problems in this, or should
we welcome secular theory interpretting the Church?
Similar Posts:None Found...
We had dinner with our friends Graeme and Kate Young the other day, it was nice to catch up with them. Graeme is probably one of the most ‘experienced’ Christians I know, if that is indeed a catergory distinction and is one of the few Christian ministers who has taken seriously and continues to explore Jesus’ statement in Luke 18:16But Jesus called the
children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do
not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Graeme has currently been working on a commentary on Luke which should be a very interesting read, he descibed it as a commentary which works the same way as the old Children’s encylopedia, completely accesible for Children (above 8) but still containing the truth and facts of...
Hopefully you’ll find something of interest here:- Johnny Baker flagged up a couple of interesting ebooks about management for people in creative jobs and related that church planting can be considered within this field. - Jamie wrote the best sentences Ive read all week in one of his posts about Francis: "We must never forget that our words, while important, have only the
level authority to which I lives, through the power of the Spirit, lend
them credibility."- Scot McKnight is starting an excellent series called Pastors Wisdom which he will be the result of asking a series of seasoned pastors this question: If you could start
all over again, knowing what you know now, what would you focus on?" I’ll be trying to listent with all ears.- Abraham Piper has...
Plenty of News and good blogging going right now, these are in no particular order there is tech, apple, theology and everything else crammed in:The mighty design software company adobe has released a beta version of free web based software called Photoshop Express. It has some great tools for retouching and free storage. Best of all you get your own address .photoshop.com so I snapped up liam.photoshop.com I havent had the chance to put anything up on it, as the most of my photos are on flickr.Maggi Dawn features a link which shows us why not to aspire to look like cover girls (or boys for that matter)Very Interesting post on ex-communication, something the 21st Century Church doesn’t like to talk about. John Piper explains that excommunication although seemingly harsh is in fact...
In
Entertainment,
Web 2.0,
The World,
Miscellaneous,
Walkin the Walk,
Music,
Blogging,
Worship,
technology,
apple,
Hat Tips,
church,
Theology Thoughts
Andrew Jones had an interview with Brian McLaren on his book "Everything Must Change". Heres a quote from it I thought was interesting, share your thoughts in the comments:
I was deeply impacted a few years ago by Alan Roxburgh at one of our events…when he said, the church is like a person who gets invited to a party and only talks about himself. I’ve been thinking that we get into a syndrome of trying to save our lives denominationally, etc, which makes us lose them … when instead, our churches need to lose our lives, pour ourselves out for the sake of the world, become more interested in joining God in caring for the world than in getting God to join us in caring for ourselves, that sort of thing. But of course, at heart I’ll always be a pastor,...
THE GREATEST DAY IN HISTORY
The empty cross, the empty graveLife eternal, You have won the dayShout it out, Jesus is aliveHe’s alive - Tim HughesSimilar Posts:The Peace…
Dealing with Sin, with Theology
Top Tips for Mobile Phone Contracts Part Two
Moving on
What the Hec is RSS...
“Love is that liquor sweet and most divine,Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.”—George Herbert, “The Agonie” (1633).HT: Benjamin Myers Also Andy Darling (Stour Valley Vineyard) has posted a powerful image for Good Friday which is worth looking at todaySimilar Posts:CLAN Gathering/New Wine Scotland
The Second Greatest Commandment…
A New Look
Back in the Office
Worship UnLtd...
UPDATE/APOLOGY: To those reading the RSS feed (who likely wouldnt read this update anyway) I published this before some re-formats and spell checks and so it may look a horrendous mess in the feedreader. …and plenty of it! I have been busy this week, but not to busy to pick up some interesting news, links and posts. Apologies for the massive length of this post, but its two round ups in one as I didnt manage my normal mid week round up this week, enjoy:Apple is thinking about offering subcription-based unlimited iTunes downloads Ft reports: "Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers
for deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange
for a monthly subscription, executives said. One executive said
the research had shown that consumers...
In
Travel,
Web 2.0,
Miscellaneous,
Walkin the Walk,
Music,
technology,
apple,
Justice,
Hat Tips,
church,
Theology Thoughts
With a desire for ecumenical dialogue there sometimes seems no way forward without tolerance and an acceptance of a "less than perfect" agreement on matters, but NT Wright here at the 1975 World Ecumenical Council asserts a new way for us to be ecumenical, that is to draw closer to Christ: …if we are to come together as Christians it will not be
by watering down everything until there is so little left that we can
all agree on it. It will be by all of us learning more and more of
Christ, and of the truth about him, so that we can grow closer to each
other because we are closer to him.
I have seen this work out in practice. When I was a delegate at the
1975 Assembly of the World Council of Churches I found over and over
again that it was when we said what we really meant,...
