We have been thinking about where God might be when things don’t seem to make much sense. Nothing could have brought this home this week like sitting in hospital with Trevor and David Parry and Paul Manley while a kind, gracious medical registrar explained the damage caused to Liz’s brain by a bang to the head at home. To learn that the damage was catastrophic and nothing could be done medically for Liz was for us all the epitome of [continue reading…]
Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature (Hebrews 5:12-14). Think about the difference between milk and solid food. Milk is actually pre-digested food (ie. mum eats solid food, digests it and makes it [continue reading…]
What a great time we had last weekend at our St Philips Youth Camp. God continued to work in the lives of our young people through this temporary community experience. Ten young people with five leaders attended for a weekend of fun, faith and friendship. Research has shown that a peak experience of this kind is one of the factors that helps young people stay connected to church and their faith. Time together is so valuable – we all know [continue reading…]
From Hamo’s Blog PostPastor, Quinns Rocks Baptist Church. “Did you know there are twins in New Zealand and their parents named them ‘Fish & Chips’? True story. Another family have 3 kids – Faith, Hope and… yeah, you guessed it… Kevin! Not surprisingly, ‘Fish & Chips’ have been banned as a names in NZ, along with other choice names like ‘Robocop’ (Mexico), ‘Circumcision’ (also Mexico) and a host of others. Names matter. In the ancient world names carried weight and [continue reading…]
What is known as ‘peak experiences’ is one of the things that has been found to be a key factor in young people continuing on with their faith. One of the influential places for these ‘peak experiences’ in people’s faith journeys is in the context of the temporary community that camps provide. Many of our community can testify to their experience of that over the years, including things like the men’s and women’s retreats in the life of our church. [continue reading…]
Today, we are acknowledging what has become known as the Protestant Reformation, one of the cataclysmic changes in Christian understanding that reshaped the world as we know it. A trip to Israel illustrates and reminds us that the greatest reformation by far came in the person of Jesus Christ, a relative nobody, a tradesman from an inconsequential village in the upper reaches of the outback of Palestine. Just one little Jesus tidbit from 10 days ago: We were in Nazareth, [continue reading…]
Rightnow Media: Top Five Visiting rightnowmedia.org is a bit like trying to climb Mt Everest – there is so much to get through! Today I want to give you some of my top recommendations. Some of the authors I can ‘vouch’ for are Matt Chandler, John Piper and Francis Chan. If you have a commute to work, why not download the audio for one of their sermon series? Did you know that (a) you can download material onto your phone [continue reading…]
When I travelled to Sudan 12 years ago, the experience was both profound and enduring. It sparked in me an enthusiasm to alleviate the suffering amongst the folk I had met who had been long displaced from their homeland, and left languishing for decades in distant places, without any hope for their future. Nine years later that spark had almost extinguished when the Lord came calling again through one of His faithful servants, Samuel Ojulu, founder of the new church [continue reading…]
As I write this, I’ve just got home from a night of studying 1 Corinthians with some St Philips women. We’ve been doing an online study put together by Ridley College and finding it useful, not only for helping us understand 1 Corinthians but also for shaping us in how we read Scripture more generally. In this study, they maintain the importance of three concepts in reading the Bible: Mind the Gap – the need to understand the context of [continue reading…]
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints(Colossians 1:3-4). Today I want to give you a few reasons to give thanks to God. Youth Group When I first arrived at St Philips, our average youth group attendance was 5, but now, only 18 months on, it is closer to 15! Our record [continue reading…]