• The Church

    Women + The Church

    Reading Time: 23 minutes

    The ongoing conversation about the ‘role’ of women; in the church, in marriage, and indeed, in society in general, is not something that is new, only specific to our own time, or a subject that the early Christians didn’t also have to navigate and reevaluate, specifically in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    It’s a subject that impacts me personally, both as a woman and as the mother of two daughters, and my understanding…

  • Holy Spirit

    In Him Was Life

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    “You can’t read the New Testament without seeing the call to holiness in the Christian life. But that holiness is a work of God’s grace as the Holy Spirit empowers the believer to live a life pleasing to God. New Testament holiness is a joyous privilege, not a heavy burden and duty.
     
    New Testament holiness enhances life, it never diminishes it. This is what Jesus modelled so well and it’s why genuine seekers of God were…

  • Personal

    Keeping The Faith

    Reading Time: 9 minutes

    It’s been nearly five years since the religious community I grew up in ‘regretfully accepted my withdrawal from fellowship’. In reality, I did no such thing, their statement was simply an awkward and disingenuous way to excommunicate me because I could no longer affirm, without reservation, particular tenets they held to be watertight and immutable.
    I feel that had the Bible genuinely been our mutually agreed authority, there would have been no good cause to excommunicate…

  • Microblogs

    Crossing Over

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    There are many crossings a human will make in a lifetime.
    Our introduction to life is just the first.
    From the dim, watery, stillness of the womb, we are thrust out into the bright light of day; into this dizzying kaleidoscope we call life. 
    Our lungs, filled with fluid and collapsed upon themselves like waxy, paper bags, suddenly inflate; as our intricately crafted nervous system reacts to the sudden change in temperature and environment. We breathe, for the…

  • Historical Christian Writings

    The Incarnation Of The Word

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    “In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
     
    He came into the very world he created, but the world…

  • The Church

    Lessons From The Seven Churches

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    It can be tempting to view the early first century church in rather glowing terms – a ‘golden age’ of church history when the believers were all-in, the church totally had it together, and the believers shared all things in common. I’ve heard Acts 2:42 touted as somewhat of a touchstone for church authenticity, with a revival of these (implied: blissful, albeit persecuted) glory days being the true mark of genuine Christian living.
    And there’s no…

  • Personal

    Fidelity In Friendship

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    “Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” | Thessalonians 5:15, ESV

    Fidelity.
    It’s a word perhaps more likely to be used in the context of its absence rather than its presence. Regrettably, it often comes to our attention through it’s lack; infidelity.
    While we tend to think of fidelity as describing physical faithfulness in committed, intimate relationships, it’s not just restricted to these.
    The word fidelity is also used to describe employee loyalty to a…

  • Lifestyle

    Living Intentionally

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Life can be described as one long journey with many different paths and choices along the way. Like any kind of journey, the journey of life requires us to be aware, to plan, and to make decisions about how we’re going to reach our destination, looking for navigation points and signposts to guide us along the way.
    We could choose to relinquish any idea of intentionality, but approaching life in this haphazard, unplanned way makes the…

  • The Church

    Without The Applause: Examining Celebrity Culture In The Church

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    I recently wrote an article which I called ‘Beneath The Skin’; a critique of sorts of modern Christianity and the Western church.
    The article focused primarily on the collective Christian identity; The Church, not on any one particular denomination or way of ‘doing church’ but, rather, on the church’s influence and presence, as a whole, in the world today. I endeavored to identify both the good and the bad, historically and now, but, in particular, I was…

  • Jesus

    When God Moved Into The Neighbourhood

    Reading Time: 9 minutes

    I think our view or perspective of God and His intentions may have been shaped by many things, but the Bible seems to set the narrative straight pretty much right away, declaring His intent and purpose from the beginning. We read in Genesis 1:6 that God said “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock,…