As part of working through the Sermon on the Mount recently, it has struck me how difficult this blueprint for being a disciple really is. It is indeed a narrow and difficult road spent following Jesus. All the values that kingdom people are supposed to hold to are the opposite of what our sinful natures …
Sometimes we can feel like the Christian life is all about trying to stop doing things we shouldn’t be doing. After all, we’re all sinners. God, in his great mercy, often points out our sin to us as we read his Word and hear it explained. We can always do a better job of being …
There is a common saying in English: ‘stop and smell the roses’. It is an encouragement to slow down and enjoy life a little. It remains good advice. All of us have a tendency to get too busy and stressed, and it is good for us to slow down and enjoy the good things in …
If all kinds of Christian churches believe that the Bible is God’s word, that should be enough, right? All Bible-believing churches should be very similar to one another. In an ideal world that would be true. The reality is that we are all sinful people who don’t always agree on things and who read the …
Being part of a Presbyterian denomination means more than doing some things together with churches in the same region; it also means being connected in a country. The denomination my church is a part of has sister churches in Sydney, Canberra and Queensland. How can we possibly connect in a useful way with churches so …
People vote for all kinds of reasons, according to what is important to them. Sometimes there is one issue that is close to someone’s heart (like the environment or asylum seekers), and they will vote for the party that has the best policy on that issue. Many simply vote for the party that they think …
To many, the idea of denominations seems irrelevant or even a bad idea. Often people speak against the ‘institutional church’ as if the moment that some formal structure is developed, that must be a bad thing. Of course, there have been many times that the ‘institutional church’ has done poor things or has been too …
As discussed in the last blog post (which you can read here), a Presbyterian church is a church governed by elders. That doesn’t seem radical to most Christians. After all, churches of most different brands have elders of some type. It hardly seems distinctive. However, Presbyterian churches do run differently to other brands of churches. …
Churches have all kinds of labels on the door. Some are traditional ones, like Baptist, Anglican or Presbyterian. Many now are simply called ‘community church’ or something like that, which says nothing about what kind of church it is. The church that I serve is called All Nations Presbyterian Church. Some have suggested that we …
There is an old chorus called “Tell me the old, old story” which revels in the wonder of being told about the gospel once more. From the perspective of someone who has been a believer for many years, the song expresses that we love to hear it again and again. I love this song, but …