“The culturally compliant strain of Christianity promoted in Australia does not . . . oblige (people) to embrace lifestyle choices that might involve discomfort.” Tom Frame As the Christian church declines in Australia, and the western world generally, there is a consequent search for ways of being more missionally fruitful. Many reasons are cited for … Continue reading The ‘Laodicean Syndrome’
The Dead Hand of Apathy
A few years ago, 2008 to be precise, as part of a paper I was writing at the time, I carried out a small survey in regard to the level of passion in congregations in regard to reaching the community with the gospel. The format was that I asked a number of Senior Ministers to … Continue reading The Dead Hand of Apathy
A Great Leap Forwards – Into the Nineties!
I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who is reputed to have said “I went to church today and for once was not depressed!” My recent experiences have sadly not been so positive! To quote the home page of this site- “Unbounded Church is an idea – The idea that the church needs to be … Continue reading A Great Leap Forwards – Into the Nineties!
The Problem With ‘All’
Sometimes when I’m thinking about the general missional unfruitfulness of Australian churches I wonder how much it is due to the prevalent use of the HDV bible. The HDV (Humpty Dumpty Version) has I believe had a seriously deleterious effect on our missional activities. Just to remind us, Humpty Dumpty is a character who … Continue reading The Problem With ‘All’
The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost
The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost The second half of the biblical Book of Daniel (of Lions’ Den fame) paints an apocalyptic view of middle-eastern history through the period of the successive Persian, Greek and Roman empires. This, what might be called ‘the series of the collapse of the empires’ (Chapters 7-12), should be … Continue reading The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost
The Closing Window
Up to some point in the SS Titanic’s fatal journey towards the notorious iceberg there remained a window of opportunity during which decisive action could have been taken that would have avoided the disaster that ultimately took place. We know of course that such action was not taken, at least before it was too late, … Continue reading The Closing Window
The Freezing of Newness – A Musing
God is a God of new things. A kaleidoscope of scripture tells us so-for “behold . . . new things I now declare”, “behold I am doing a new thing”, “the new heavens and the new earth which I will make”, “I will make a new covenant”, “ a new heart I will give you”, … Continue reading The Freezing of Newness – A Musing
‘Cogito, Ergo Sum’ – Or Maybe I Am Not?
‘Cogito, Ergo Sum’ – But Maybe I Am Not? “Cogito, Ergo Sum”. “I think therefore I am”, is a famous and profound statement made by the 17th Century French philosopher Rene Descartes. His point was that the evidence that he really exists is the fact that he can actually think about his existence! This is … Continue reading ‘Cogito, Ergo Sum’ – Or Maybe I Am Not?
Cross-Less ‘Christians’
"The only man who has the right to say he is justified by Grace alone, is the man who has left all to follow Christ” Dietrich Bonhoeffer It would be an unusual person who has never asked in some way or other the question ‘Why am I here?’ The answer to that question is however central … Continue reading Cross-Less ‘Christians’
‘Thankful-or Not?
I have only met a handful of lepers, or at least people who had in the past suffered from leprosy. This was in the Top End of Australia where leprosy, a terrible, maiming disease, used to be quite prevalent, indeed Darwin had a leprosarium not far from the city. Leprosy was a very common disease … Continue reading ‘Thankful-or Not?
unbounded church 