So I finally get to the “Fire and Brimstone” bit! This is because I got into a conversation with a woman recently about what happened after death and that got me thinking. She was not a Christian but seemed to have some belief that there was a life after death, and her view was that … Continue reading Hell Needs to Make a Come Back
I don’t like re-posting previous blogs, however while this is not a repeat of the original post, despair drives me to return to the subject of one, because it is an issue that plagues our missional efforts and it is showing very little sign of going away. Indeed, it is symptomatic of the now anachronistic … Continue reading The Square Wheel Obsession–A Heartfelt Plea for Sanity
Writing in the late 1990s in his book “From Dawn to Decadence”, a survey of the last 500 years of Western cultural life, a society which he saw as sliding towards decadence, Jacques Barzun wrote – “It takes only a look at the numbers to see that the 20th century is coming to an … Continue reading An Easter Reflection to the Sound of Angels Weeping
I recently came across an article in ‘Quadrant’ magazine that in part described a bygone world- a nowadays strange world even quaint to many. It was a description of the decline of the suburban church post WW2, specifically in the major city of Melbourne, however the description could have been of any city in the … Continue reading There Was a Kindness There
“You Don’t Get to New Places by Following Established Tracks” Carlo Rovelli At talks or seminars given on the ‘Unbounded Church’ concept there are regularly the same questions asked or issues raised. One of these is the issue of ‘Models’. Nearly always someone will say something like “Well give me some models so that I … Continue reading Mission in the Future that Turns Up When You Get There
I get to talk to a lot of Pastors of mainline congregations. Some show interest when I explain the Missional Community (Unbounded church) vision, and a few, a very few, come along to the seminars I run from time to time. Of those that do come, it is depressing to see that while showing interest … Continue reading Time for a Break Not Cherry Picking
In our house I am surrounded by Leggo. This is a result of having a family, now of several generations, who are Leggo fanatics. I reckon you name it and we can make a Leggo model of it! As the family gathered over the most recent Christmas it looked at times like it was the … Continue reading Time For Leggo!
John Stott the famous evangelical preacher used to say that when preparing sermons it is necessary to hold the bible in the one hand and the newspaper in the other. His point was that the Christian message is not to be taught or proclaimed in a cultural vacuum. Rather the receiving culture, while not changing … Continue reading ‘Cultural Intelligence’ – Understanding the Times
The Cicadas are loud this year. The Gum trees surrounding my property on the Illawarra escarpment overlooking the Pacific are filled with a great chorus of sound. It is as if they are sounding out the joy of the coming King. Even the Kookaburra’s laugh seems to be one of joy and the Mopoke and … Continue reading Tears Falling On Joy
In the Bible we are told that at the first Christmas a bunch of Angels cried out- “Peace on earth and good will to all people, On whom his favour rests” A great promise isn’t? I am sure we could all do with a bit more peace, because there doesn’t appear to be a whole … Continue reading A ‘Different Kind of Peace’
