If our focus is to attract people - we will entertain them, but if it’s to raise up disciples - we will train them. There is actually nothing wrong with being attractive - Jesus was extremely successful at attracting others and large crowds would often walk long distances just to get a glimpse of Him. But Jesus wasn’t focussed on ‘bigger audiences’ - He was focussed on raising up effective disciples - and we the church need to check if our vision is blurry. A number of years ago I trained up youth pastors and helped match them with churches who were looking to employ one. On hearing that a par ..read more

Is the western church arrogant? We parade our household name ministries in our impressive buildings, holding attractive conferences with beautifully designed advertising, broadcast our events on high resolution livestreams and produce super cool worship music available on all streaming platforms – and we offer all this to a worldwide audience who have followed our ‘ground-breaking’ innovations. How marvellous we are! Really??? If we peel back the glossy cover, we are likely to see a less impressive reality…. Churches are gripped with consumerism despite the central theme of the gospel being ..read more

I’m a church leader yet I don’t currently know who is fully part of our church community. This may sound strange but following the pandemic, many of us who have the privilege of serving God in churches are finding ourselves in a similar position. People have come, people have gone, some have said hi, some have said goodbye. Some have moved to other churches, others have found garden centres to hang out in and some have bought camper vans and decided that regular holidays are better than regular holy days. Then there are others who are sitting discretely and silently on the other side of our li ..read more

There are two sorts of journeys we travel; Familiar journeys and unfamiliar journeys. The familiar journeys require little planning and thought but the unfamiliar journeys often require more from us. Many have found themselves travelling a less familiar journey over the last few years and it’s taken a lot out of them – for some it has particularly taken a toll on their confidence. I’m not talking about the general demeanour of a person. The issue is not about swagger but whether we are placing our confidence in something that is able to withstand the rigours of an unfamiliar journey. Let me il ..read more

Are you a lover or a fighter? Jesus followers should be both. In following Him we discover beauty in being called beloved, we encounter the stunning flow of His immersive grace, we know the attentiveness of His faithful presence but we are also centre stage in a war. His yoke may be light but there is also a punchier side to following Him. In the New Testament we find words such as: Fight - For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heav ..read more

We are too strong! But like me I suspect you think you are not strong enough. After all, I have weaknesses, shortcomings, lack, inabilities and blindspots. These weaknesses can easily intimidate and confine me – but my main problem is not that I’m too weak. My main problem is I’m too strong. We generally buy into a narrative which says to be successful we have to become stronger. Everyone from sporting teams, company directors, politicians, school academies and basically every other sector of society are all trying to build strength in order to be successful. Churches do the same thing - If we ..read more

I don’t believe the shaking is over. The recent impact of COVID19 has caused many nations, institutions and individuals to be significantly shaken - and although we are seeing countries incrementally open up again, the new practises we have been asked to adopt would have been unthinkable 12 months ago. This global ‘earthquake’ has had a huge impact on everything from mental well-being to national economies experiencing the most significant downturn in living memory. We are also surrounded by speculation as to whether a dreaded second wave will arrive. Like all of us, I hope COVID19 has had its ..read more

We used to think the future was fairly predictable and made our plans accordingly - but thanks to a global pandemic and its’ significant aftershocks, we are now finding it a challenge to plan just a few months ahead. Some of us had become very accustomed to filling our diaries and wall charts with hopes and plans for years into the future, but now we are more likely to find our wall spaces filled with social distancing warnings than a confident plan for the year ahead. When the pandemic began to make its impact, many of us deleted many of our plans overnight. Maybe we were too arrogant with ou ..read more

When I was in my teens there was a game we would often play at our youth club. The leader would ask a question and give two potential answers. The answers would be represented by two opposite sides of the room and we had to choose which we would run to as our way of selecting our choice. The game often involved running, jostling, a few elbows and some scorn for those on the other side of the room. Has anyone noticed how social media seems to rouse a similar scenario? Someone shouts their thoughts on one side of the room - some people run quickly to join them while others identify on the other ..read more

As 2020 approached I had such an expectation in my spirit about the impending 12 months ahead. It felt like I was bubbling with a prophetic sense that something ‘new’ was about to happen in the church and this theme was reinforced by a number of respected and trusted guest speakers we had invited. I must admit, so far this year hasn’t worked out like I was anticipating. See I Am Doing A New Thing… On reflection I see that my expectations of the ‘new’ were more like improved versions of the ‘old’. I guess I was hoping that 2020 would be an upgraded version of 2019 rather than a completely diffe ..read more