As Paul and Silas get moved out of Thessalonica, they move on to Berea, some 43 miles away. That’s about a 2-3 day walk.
I can only imagine the conversation between the two of them, and with Timothy who were also with them. They would have discussed theology, life, their plans when they got...
Paul remains in Philippi and as part of his usual activity of going to the place of prayer by the river just outside the city, Paul encounters a fortune-telling slave girl. After the Paul gets annoyed enough, he casts a demon out of the girl, and the slave girl’s owners get mad. This poor...
“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” Acts 16:6 ESV
At the end of the book of Matthew, Jesus tells His disciples to go into all the world, the famous Great Commission. I’ve heard so...
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
I remember when I was younger I used to read choose-your-own adventure stories....
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
“The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to...
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
The stoning of Stephen in Chapter 7 is the catalyst for the next wave of the Holy...
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
After the believers reconvene after Peter & John’s trial, it says that...
It’s hard to know how 2021 will be remembered, after all, we’re less than halfway through it. Whilst we’ll immediately start thinking about the easing of lockdown and the hopeful return to some semblance of normality, I think that the church should be aware of a huge change that...
It’s Christmas time, and I think we’re all glad 2020 is coming to a close. Coronavirus, toilet paper crises, lockdown, politics, more lockdown, more politics, I’m A Celeb in Wales… It’s been a tough year.
There’s an old saying that says you learn more in...
In the church world, we’ve become conditioned to believe that the right way to “do” church is found in Scripture. And to a certain extent, I agree. We want Scripture to guide us when we look at how we do church. However, when we look at Scripture, there’s no manual for how...
With the end of COVID now slightly more in-sight, more churches will be thinking about how to move forward as a church. Multisite was a fast-growing option for many churches in the U.K. pre-COVID, and with churches starting to re-gather again, I think that this is going to become a very...
“If you change something and no-one gets mad, you just changed something that doesn’t matter."
Dan ReilandI recently saw this quote from Dan which really got me thinking. After all, we often go into change thinking about how we can take people with us. If anything, all of the focus...
A lockdown can bring with it a healthy dose of introspection. With more time at home, there should be more space to think. At least you’re not being interrupted every two seconds with another request, so take the opportunity to not just work in the ministry, but work on it as well.
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Hiring is one of the most important jobs you can do in your church. Firstly, you’ve got to get the personality right, if you don’t get that right, all of the rest of this is pointless. Although that’s for another blog.
Different types of roles link to different ways in which...
I’m a proud child of the City of Gloucester. It’s a small city with a fantastic history. Originally the Roman town of Glevum, we have a king buried in the Cathedral, which was also the filming location for the Harry Potter movies. Home to Robert Raikes, the pioneer of Sunday Schools,...
If you’ve grown up in church (which I have) then soon enough the talk around personal finances comes up. The talk goes a little like this: Spend less than you earn, give your first 10% to God, save your second 10% and the rest is for spending. And it’s great advice, advice I try to...
Excellence is a much-talked about subject in church. There’s two camps we Christians can fall into. On the one-hand, many say excellence is our response to a God who gave his excellence for us, it honours Him to give Him our best, and excellence draws people in. On the other hand,...
There’s an old saying that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. And it’s usually true, especially in church life. How often are we struggling to find people to fill roles? I don’t know a single church that isn’t crying out for leaders in some area. Now, some of...
When it comes to leadership ability, there are two schools of thought. In the red corner there is the belief in born leaders. You could even go far as saying it’s a God-given gift, and indeed in Romans 12:8, leadership is listed as a divinely-bestowed gift. The thought is that you should be...
Have you ever watched those hoarder TV shows? It’s the ones where there is someone living with so much clutter that they can’t see their sofa, bed or kitchen. They often have very narrow corridors lined with stuff that is piled up to the ceilings. It's particularly sad to watch, no...
