• Dual Citizens

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    I was born and raised in New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud and a ratio of nearly six sheep for every one person. I often remember as a child watching the sun in summer sink below the horizon late at night, and, in winter, layering up as warmly as possible through the short, dark, freezing days of relentless rain and oftentimes snow.
    My husband and I moved from New Zealand in 2008, the…

  • Will Progressive Christianity Destroy The Church?

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while. Some time ago, I watched a commentary by a ‘Christian pastor’ that totally shocked me. In fact, I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since.
    I found it disturbing; equal parts ridiculous and horrifying, and I really couldn’t believe it was being presented under the guise of legitimate Christianity.
    For me, it highlighted a disturbing and, frankly, heartbreaking direction that modern Christianity, or…

  • By One Man

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    I like the Apostle Paul.
    I like his ability to ‘call a spade a spade’, the unrelenting pursuit of his faith, and his bold assertion to “preach nothing but the cross of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:2). No doubt he ruffled more than a few feathers at times, with his unapologetic directness and refusal to tolerate any other gospel than that of being saved by grace through faith alone.
    He doesn’t shy away from telling it how it…

  • Majors And Minors | The Danger Of Extremism

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    The appearance of Jesus on the Jewish scene was a dramatic collision between grace and spiritual performance. Jesus came preaching repentance and forgiveness for all people; not on the basis of their social status, their ethnicity, or their gender, but on the basis of God’s generosity and undeserved grace (Mark 16:15, Luke 14:23).

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish…

  • Beneath The Skin

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    What’s beneath the skin of our collective Christian identity?
    Has Christianity lost touch with its original radical and beating heart? Are we so enamored with the power and prestige of this present world that we have forgotten our own history?
    Are we, the church, so entertained by the lights and sounds, by the choreographed music, by the dimly lit stages and almond-milk-lattes-after-service that we’ve forgotten the ancient truths our early Christian brethren lived and died for?
    Have we…

  • Why Belonging To A Local Church Isn’t Optional

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    The last six months have been an unsettling and disruptive time for millions of people around the globe. The impact of COVID-19 on our ordinary routines and daily habits has been, in many cases, bewildering. The ways in which we would usually connect have had to adapt to these new and strange times – and it seems we’re not out of the woods just yet. Our lives may not return to normal any time soon,…

  • The Church | A Woman Of Valour

    Reading Time: 12 minutes

    In my recent article, ‘The People Of The Kingdom’, I noted that the church is the tangible evidence of the kingdom of God. Church people are kingdom people, living in a fellowship under King Jesus, with lives that “are literally connected to things before the creation of the world and extending far into eternity” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) (Matter Of The Heart). By looking more closely at how the Bible describes the church, we will also see what…