Category: Church

The blessing of good elders

The blessing of good elders

I have spent a lot of time with elders in the past week. My denomination holds a National Assembly every 18 months, which was planned to be held in Queensland before any of us knew what 2020 would hold. We were forced to have a two-day Zoom conference instead. While it would have been great …

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Being yeast

Being yeast

In Matthew 13, Jesus compares his followers to yeast (with ‘leaven’ simply being an older word for ‘yeast’): 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matt. 13:33 ESV) As far as parables go, …

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Subject to a better offer?

Subject to a better offer?

For many Christians, regular attendance at church or Bible study is a somewhat scattered thing. There could be many reasons why this particular Sunday might not involve going to church, and being sick is only one of them. Maybe there is a special sporting event on. Maybe you have been invited to a birthday party. …

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Church as a family

Church as a family

It is common for people to compare church to a family; after all, Jesus and the apostles use this word picture in their teaching. Jesus says that all who do the will of his Father are his mother and brothers and sisters (Matt 12:49-50). Paul routinely calls the readers of his letters “brothers and sisters …

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The joy of church membership

The joy of church membership

The church that I serve has the wonderful privilege of welcoming five new members today. Five people will stand up in front of the congregation and confess that they trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. They will make promises to serve the local church with their gifts. These are very different people, in …

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Are you keen to return to physical church, or is online church too comfortable?

Are you keen to return to physical church, or is online church too comfortable?

We all settle into routines and habits after a while. After the rapid changes we experienced at the start of this pandemic, for many of us life has settled into a different ‘normal’. This has meant working from home and experiencing church via online services and Zoom Bible studies. It felt strange to start with …

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The Lord’s house deserves the best!

The Lord’s house deserves the best!

When I was a university student, I became a member of the local church that I had grown up in. I distinctly remember the first congregational meeting I ever attended. There was the kind of pressing, controversial issue found in churches everywhere: the organ had recently died. This was in a church that had (at …

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