What’s next?

Does church maintain the status quo?  We talk a good game about transformation and renewal but are we organisationally set up to avoid it? Broken Rhythms This isn’t a new question for me. I remember thinking about it when I was training for youth work at Jordanhill in 1991.  Apparently other people had been thinking Read More …

URC Youth Assembly Keynotes

So… here are my first keynotes from URC Youth Assembly 2014. As always, your thoughts, comments and observations are welcome… Here are the pdfs URCYA14 Keynote 1 “When the world was dark…” Spill the Beans “Exile is…” comes from Rob Bell’s book Jesus Wants to Save Christians. URCYA14 Keynote 2 “Open Arms” by Elbow “And they asked Read More …

Thinking about men

Over the past few days I’ve been thinking about men.  A lot. That’s not something I do very often.  It’s also something that people in churches don’t do enough of. This consideration of the male of the species was as part of my training for ministry and was hugely challenging. To get us thinking we Read More …

My Encounter with Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom Read More …

writing about writing

When I don’t write often I find it hard to write often. Does that make sense? Writing is a habit.  It takes practice and persistence.  At least that’s what I find. I’ve been a bit out of practice recently.  I tell myself I’ve been busy, and that’s true, but it’s not an excuse.  Not really. Read More …

Spill the Beans 10

Spill The Beans Issue 10 is now available for download, and takes us from 1 December to 2 March 2014, encompassing Advent, Christmas, Epiphany all the way to the Transfiguration. Over the season of Advent we focus on the bible passages from the prophets, before turning to the gospel readings for the remainder of this Read More …

Sometimes you get what you need, not what you want

So, this is what rejection looks like. Well, rejection from the Virgin London Marathon ballot.  3 time unlucky for me. To be honest I’m stuck somewhere between disappointment and relief. The disappointment comes because London is one of the big 4.  It’s a world marathon major.  It is one of the marathons on most runner’s Read More …