the waiting country

Pertinent question asked by Oliver Burkeman in the latest issue of New Philosopher : What will your life have been, in the end, but the s...

Commenting on Ezekiel 36, Chris Wright says, Spiritually and psychologically there is profound insight in this chapter into the proper pla...

God is there. There are times when our doctrinal conviction of God's omnipresence needs to become an experienced reality again. Whether...

In their helpful book, How to read Job, John Walton and Tremper Longman III make the following comments about application in preaching that...

In my post of random thoughts on the experience of a sabbatical , I mentioned that I hadn't missed preaching and wasn't too sure wha...

Some pretty random, unrefined reflections on my recent sabbatical. Not in any particular order. 1. Don't leave it 22 years for your fi...

You'd think every pastor has a natural inclination towards reading and a natural aptitude for it. If that's the stereotype then I fi...

"Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan," sobbed Lucy. "At last." The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sit...

"Maybe the best definition of the leader is the man who knows how to wait. During the waiting he learns to lead by prayer. He deepens h...

Parables...attract attention by their pictorial or paradoxical language, and at the same time their indirect approach serves to tease and pr...

"He did not set out to aggressively recruit followers by overwhelming power or manipulation; rather, he humbly acknowledged that God...

Acts 28:30,31 is "a marvellous conclusion to the earliest recorded history of the church. Whether intended or not, Luke strikes the twi...

Was it realistic to think I could develop [into] something maybe more like a contemplative pastor - a pastor who was able to be with people ...

The single most important way for pastors or church leaders to turn passive laypeople into courageous and gracious lay ministers is through ...

If we never deliberately think through ways to rightly contextualise gospel ministry to a new culture, we will unconsciously be deeply conte...

“If you’re thirsty, you may drink.” They were the first words [Jill] had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For ...

God knew the worst about us before he chose to love us, and therefore no discovery now can disillusion him about us in the way that we are s...

Let us not measure men, much less ourselves, by gifts or services. One grain of grace is worth abundance of gifts. To be self-abased, to be ...

The old weather-beaten Christian, who has learnt by sorrowful experience how weak he is in himself, and what powerful subtle enemies he has ...

Very helpful discussion of Christ-centred hermeneutics with the guys from Mere Fidelity: