A recent headline to an article by Paul Kelly of the ‘Australian' newspaper caught my eye. It read- “Broken System Can't Fix the Nations Problems" Of course Kelly was referring to what he calls the "failure in Australia's political system". However I think paraphrasing Kelly’s title a little to “Broken System Can't Fix the Churches … Continue reading ‘System Failure!’
The Village
In the ‘Village’ pretty much everyone dressed up and gathered in the church building for the Sunday service. During the week they lived and worked in, or in close proximity to, the ‘Village’, either on the land, or in service enterprises (blacksmiths, coopers, shoemakers etc). This proximity meant that they rubbed shoulders with and connected … Continue reading The Village
King Canute and the Unstoppable Tide
King Canute was an English King in the 10th Century who is recorded as having governed very wisely and as having done a lot of good for his people. However, the story (legendary or not) is that he became so flattered by those around him as to his greatness that he believed he could control … Continue reading King Canute and the Unstoppable Tide
The Unchanging Changer
All who claim to be Christians will say they worship God The degree to which we worship God however depends on the extent to which we actually know Him-or to put it another way which ‘god’ do we actually worship? If our knowledge of God is limited, defective or distorted by our own ideas, then … Continue reading The Unchanging Changer
“Crying Jesus Tears”
At a recent gathering I attended a young international university student told us how his heart was breaking, and I started to wonder why. Was it because of some personal loss, a relationship break up or death of a loved one? No he told us, his heart was breaking over the spiritual status of three … Continue reading “Crying Jesus Tears”
A Problem With Leadership
The Barbarians are at the gates, the gates of western civilization. The 'Christendom'-founded and shaped civilization we call 'the West', denuded by the leaching out of its gospel underpinnings; its foundation of the Rock replaced by Post modern relativism and so no match for the flood of alternative 'truths' whether liberal humanism, radical Islam or … Continue reading A Problem With Leadership
St Lukewarms- The Concrete Truck with a Holden Cruze Engine
When I was studying civil engineering at university many years ago, one of the requirements of the course was that we got some engineering-related employment in the long summer vacations. So I got a job as a concrete sampler with a ready-mix concrete company. This involved going out to construction sites and taking samples of … Continue reading St Lukewarms- The Concrete Truck with a Holden Cruze Engine
Unbounded Church-Teaching ‘Babies and Bathwater’
Unbounded Church is an idea, the idea that the church needs to be set free from the rigid, cumbersome and change-averse ‘Christendom’ influenced forms and structures in order to be - ‘A church as we haven’t known it for a society as we haven’t known it' This is an idea based on the belief … Continue reading Unbounded Church-Teaching ‘Babies and Bathwater’
This Present Bondage-The ‘god’ of Church ‘Form’
One of the more confronting stories in the bible, it could even be described as a horror story, is the vision God gave to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10). The picture is one of the utter horror (to Jewish eyes) of the Glory of God leaving the Jerusalem temple, the place where God symbolically … Continue reading This Present Bondage-The ‘god’ of Church ‘Form’
“Church Through the Wormhole’
Most of us know the story of Alice in “Alice in Wonderland”, about the young girl who while sitting on a riverbank one summer’s day sees a white rabbit which she follows down a rabbit hole. This leads her into another weird world where everything is strange, especially the people who behave, think and speak … Continue reading “Church Through the Wormhole’
