In Depth:  discipleship

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Is the sermon in the exam?
engaging with culture today

Is the sermon in the exam?
John Owen
John Owen

“Is this in the exam?” The question makes my heart sink every time I hear it – I want my students to care for more than exams; I want them to become good engineers.

At work, I’m leading a group designing new undergraduate programmes. As well as thinking about “constructive alignment” and “learning outcomes”, we’ve been wrestling with the problem of students who would rather watch online than sit in lectures, finding the balance between group and individual work, and managing the impacts of generative AI (positive and negative).

Sundays: Rediscovering rest in a restless world
Now This

Sundays: Rediscovering rest in a restless world
Bill James
Bill James

By the time this article is published, the summer holiday season will be coming to an end. We all enjoy having a break from the routine of daily work – surely there’s nothing controversial about that? And yet the most controversial of the Ten Commandments is number four, relating to the Sabbath.

My own position is that the moral law is expressed in the Ten Commandments, which continue to have universal and binding authority. The Sabbath continues today, being celebrated now on the first day of the week (the Lord’s Day). This view is expressed in the Westminster Confession, the 1689 Baptist Confession, and the Savoy Declaration.

Boomerang kids: Blessing or curse?

Boomerang kids: Blessing or curse?
Tim Wilson
Tim Wilson

Young men are returning to church. That is the headline which is grabbing all the attention right now. But an equally striking trend is unfolding that is not being considered by Christians. Young adults are also returning to live with their parents.

These are the “boomerang kids”, whose parents sent out but have come back. Their number is growing. A survey by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that 18% of 25- to 34-year-olds still lived with their parents. This was more likely among young men (23%) than young women (15%). With 18- to 24-year-olds this is over half.

From fed up to fed
the ENd word

From fed up to fed
Jon Barrett
Jon Barrett

There was a time when I got a bit fed up with the 23rd psalm.

Admittedly, it’s not a great way to feel about a piece of Scripture, but I’d come to associate the psalm almost entirely with funerals of unbelievers. While an Anglican minister, before moving to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), I conducted many such funerals, and the default hymn choice for the generation of non-churchgoers I was burying was Abide With Me and The Lord’s my Shepherd, the latter always sung to the tune of Crimond.

Our ‘little pink mouth blob’!
the ENd word

Our ‘little pink mouth blob’!
Lizzy Smallwood
Lizzy Smallwood

Winston Churchill once said: ‘We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.’

In this column, as we’ve looked at Respectable Sins in the Letter of James, he has challenged how we use our mouths too much and our ears and hands too little. He then goes in for the kill in Chapter 3 – that whopping respectable sin – how we misuse our tongues.

How vulnerable was Jesus?
the ENd word

How vulnerable was Jesus?
Jon Barrett
Jon Barrett

One of the habits we’ve developed as a church staff team is to have a book that we commit to reading and discussing as part of our weekly staff meeting. Normally we opt for something theological but occasionally, to keep things lively, we go a bit rogue.

Recently we’ve been on one of our excursions into left field and have been working through Brené Brown’s bestselling book on the subject of vulnerability, Daring Greatly. In all honesty, to employ a clerical metaphor, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg of a book.

Transparency in church: A Biblical call for confession

Transparency in church: A Biblical call for confession
Paul Blackham
Paul Blackham

The concept of confession isn’t new. In ancient times, sins were openly confessed within the community – as we read in the Law of Moses.

Leviticus 1:4 described how ancient saints pressed their hands onto the head of the sacrificial animal when it was to be offered for their sin. If we compare that with Leviticus 16:21 when the high priest confessed sins as he pressed his hands onto the animal, it is reasonable to assume that this act of confession was included in all such sacrifices.

‘Strictly come preaching?’
the ENd word

‘Strictly come preaching?’
Lizzy Smallwood
Lizzy Smallwood

In my bimonthly slot in the newspaper, we have been looking at how the apostle James uncovers some rather unpleasant ‘respectable sins’ in us Christians.

Last time we saw that, in order to root out our deep-seated adulterous pride, we need to become enslaved to God’s law of love by listening and receiving the word of truth with meekness, humbling ourselves, remembering and acting on what it says – not just listening but doing…

5 ways to enjoy Jesus more

5 ways to enjoy Jesus more
Tim Chester
Tim Chester

Christianity is all about Jesus. That’s not the most controversial statement! And yet Jesus can seem strangely absent from our lives.

We celebrate His character. We talk about His work. We’re grateful for His love. But Jesus Himself can feel far away, and His work can feel as if it belongs in the distant past.

Listening leads to change
the ENd word

Listening leads to change
Lizzy Smallwood
Lizzy Smallwood

We thought last time how, in his letter, the apostle James has a lot to say about how we use our mouths and ears, and what that reveals about our hearts.

He challenges us to be much better listeners – slow to speak and quick to listen to each other but, much more importantly, to God.

The pace of change
Now This

The pace of change
Bill James
Bill James

We can sometimes be bewildered by the speed at which the world changes, and new ideas and fashions take root.

In the West there has been a headlong plunge towards identity politics, and a promotion of ideologies of sexuality and gender which seemed unthinkable just one or two decades ago. At the turn of the millennium it was ‘normal’ to talk of two genders, and of marriage between one man and one woman. Now the new ‘normal’ is very different.

The cost of following Jesus
South Asian exchange

The cost of following Jesus
Rani Joshi
Rani Joshi

In recent months, as I’ve been meeting more South Asian believers who have come from other faiths, I questioned if we really understand the cost of following Jesus and what discipleship looks like for those who have come from a different faith. Especially from a ministry context.

Over 5.5million people in the UK are from a South Asian background and do not know Jesus. If mission and evangelism is at the heart of what you are doing, then it’s important to understand how to help people transition well, remain in their communities and culture (if they feel called to).

How Jesus bucks cultural norms with women

How Jesus bucks cultural norms with women
Nay Dawson

In these two short extracts from her new book, She Needs – Women Flourishing in the Church, Nay Dawson writes about how women in Christian contexts can often be patronised and infantilised. She cites Jen Wilkin (an author and Bible teacher from Texas who has led studies for women over many years) who speaks of three female ghosts that haunt the church: the Child, the Usurper and the Temptress. Nay writes, concerning the Child:

Many years ago, I was at a conference. I tried to join a conversation with two male acquaintances, but their response was, ‘Go away, silly little girl.’ I felt sick and stupid, and just wished I could disappear. Women are often treated as children; decisions are made for them, and they are patronised and humiliated in conversations.

Ten Questions: The joy of discipling

Ten Questions: The joy of discipling

Daniel Kirk

1. How did you become a Christian? 

The adventure of discipleship in a risk-locked society

The adventure of discipleship in a risk-locked society
Karen Soole
Karen Soole

When was the last time you heard the hymn ‘To be a Pilgrim’ by John Bunyan, or how about ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!’?

Perhaps you don’t know them at all. These hymns, once classic school assembly songs for generations, haven’t made it into the 21st century. Their language is dated, but the sentiment shouldn’t be. They were a call for us to love Christ and to serve Him unashamedly, written as a call to discipleship and to ‘share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus’. I’m not sure we sing many hymns now which encourage risk-taking with such reckless abandonment.

We need to be bold when the moment arises

We need to be bold when the moment arises
Karen Soole
Karen Soole

I have found a new role model. A woman prepared to act against her family for the sake of the Lord and his people.

She used her abilities and the resources at her disposal to serve the Lord’s cause even at the risk of her own life. She is a little intimidating because she seemed so in control despite her vulnerability. Her nerve extended to extreme violence. She is Jael, and we read about her in the book of Judges.

How big is too big?

How big is too big?
John Benton

During the depths of lockdown I was out walking having a pastoral conversation when we bumped into someone who went to the same church. I was surprised to find myself being asked: ‘Would you introduce me to your friend?’ They had been members in the same largish church for around six years and, though they had seen each other, had never had a conversation.

At the very least, a church needs a team spirit across the congregation. But can this be there when people have never even spoken to one another?

Have we forgotten our ultimate accountability?

Have we forgotten our ultimate accountability?
Sarah Hamilton

Accountability, ‘the fact or condition of being accountable/ responsible’ is a word we hear a lot these days, whether in the public sphere when things have gone wrong, or something being encouraged between friends or prayer partners.

So it is worth taking the time to think about accountability from a human and heavenly perspective to make the most of its blessings without expecting too much.

Being a man today

Being a man today
Alun Ebenezer

Right now it is open season on manhood.

At our worst we men are power hungry, aggressive, self entitled, demeaning and abusive to women, bad role models for our children, addicted to screens and pornography, and we can’t be trusted.

Fresh zest and Bible input for 100 weary women

Fresh zest and Bible input for 100 weary women

More than 100 women have enjoyed two special retreats organised by the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC). Women’s Ministry Co-ordinators, Rachel Sloan and Elinor Magowan report:

We prayerfully crafted two retreats for women serving in FIEC churches. In ‘normal times’ these retreats – Thrive, for women in ministry, and Ministry Wives’ Retreat, for wives of men in ministry – would be in-person and held at a retreat centre. This year they were each two days in length, mainly on Zoom and all ‘at home’.

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