Category Archives: Church

Why are Protestants keeping quiet about Clerical Abuse?

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Sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy is hitting the news on a daily basis just at the moment.  The apparent scale the abuse itself, together with alleged cover-ups implicating even the present Pope himself, is doing the reputation of the Catholic church immense harm.

The secular media is full of it.  Anti-religionists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are having a field day.  But why are Protestant spokespersons saying so little about it?

Martin Marty, veteran US religious commentator, offers the following reasons:-

1. …

Prophets today?

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‘Christ,’ says Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4:11f), ‘gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.’

Most Christian teachers would agree that the office of apostle was limited to those who were the first witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.  On the other hand, they would take it for granted that evangelists and pastor-teachers are found in every era and place.…

Celebrating the Cross

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Reflection on the death of Christ and its achievement, so far from being a sombre experience, actually leads to a type and degree of celebration that can be found nowhere else.

For the cross brings us into a new relationship with God.  This relationship is marked by boldness, love and joy.  And these do not belong merely in the interior experience of the individual believers, but are to distinguish our public worship.

As W.M. Clow points out:-

‘There is no forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, except through the cross of Christ. …

Ten Reasons Why Churches Stall

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In a recent article in Evangelicals Now, Marcus Honeysett sets out ten reasons why churches stall.  We need, he suggests, to look beyond the superficial (such as worship styles and service times) to the deeper problems that can occur.

Our churches stall when (I summarise):-

  1. We forget who and what we are, neglecting our high calling and our lofty mission.
  2. We are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in our lives.
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Is church man enough?

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Is church man enough?

Dave Hopwood thinks that it is not, and offers some interesting thoughts about this in a recent article in Church Times.

Dave argues that Sunday-morning church worship, as conventionally experienced, simply doesn’t work for many men.  He urges us to a radical re-think of how we do church for men, based on the example of Jesus himself.

This is one of those articles that provokes excitement and alarm in me in roughly equal proportions.…

Michael Harper, 1931-2010

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Michael Harper, a key figure in the charismatic renewal in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, died on January 6th.

He was a curate at All Souls Langham Place (London), serving alongside John Stott.  He left in 1964 to form the Fountain Trust, which was dedicated to spreading the charismatic message of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by speaking in tongues.  I believe that he was quite closely associated in those early days of the charismatic movement with the late David Watson, and that the two of them made an impression on the noted preacher and evangelical leader Martyn Lloyd-Jones.…

‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’ – an ‘antihymn’?

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Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

This hymn, by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92), often features in the top two or three in polls of favourite hymns, both in the UK and in the US.

Its popularity is enhanced by Parry’s beautiful tune ‘Repton’, to which it is usually sung here in the UK.

Hearing the hymn sung again recently with the usual lusty enthusiasm caused me to reflect on how singularly unsuitable it is to be sung as a hymn at all.…

Stuart Townend in Norwich

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Holy Trinity, Norwich, was the venue last night for a concert from Stuart Townend and band.  Our church was packed, with tickets having sold out well in advance.

Stuart is, of course, one of the most celebrated contemporary Christian song-writers and worship leaders.

Special guest Mark Edwards on keyboard was supported by Mike Haughton on saxes and other wind instruments, Julian Ferraretto on violin, a superb bassist (and trumpeter!) whose name escapes me for the moment, and 18-year-old Joseph Townend doing sterling work on drums.…

The Gospel is about what God has done, not what we do

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In the April 2009 edition of the journal Themelios, D.A. Carson ponders the meaning of the word ‘Gospel’.

We must distinguish between what God has done, Carson argues, and what we must do as a response to that.  But only the first of these can properly called ‘the gospel’.

‘If the gospel is the (good) news about what God has done in Christ Jesus, there is ample place for including under “the gospel” the ways in which the kingdom has dawned and is coming, for tying this kingdom to Jesus’ death and resurrection, for demonstrating that the purpose of what God has done is to reconcile sinners to himself and finally to bring under one head a renovated and transformed new heaven and new earth, for talking about God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, consequent upon Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and above all for focusing attention on what Paul (and others—though the language I’m using here reflects Paul) sees as the matter “of first importance”: Christ crucified.

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Is the Emerging Church receding?

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A year or so ago, Trevin Wax suggested that the Emerging Church was in the early stages of decline, offering a number of reasons for this opinion.  I summarise:-

1. The Emerging Church does little evangelism.

It’s not the only segment of the Christian Church that fails in this regard.  But it has to be said: The Emerging Church isn’t making many converts.  It is reaching young, disillusions Christians, but not the unchurched.  And part of the problem is its lack of clarity about what the gospel actually is. …