Sabbatical has now given way to annual leave so this will probably be my last post under the sabbatical thoughts heading. Suffice it to say that I am deeply thankful to the Lord for the way He has refreshed me and very thankful to the church for giving me this period- especially to those who […]
This week is a mixture of sabbatical plus involvement in the Kidlington Holiday Club (plus the ongoing filling of boxes in preparation for the arrival of the electrician!) The Holiday Club has been a real encouragement with a number of youngsters coming who have had little contact with the Bible before. Tempting as it is […]
This time last week I was enjoying a beautiful view over the Brecon Beacons. The view at the moment is slightly less impressive- I’m trying to get my office ready for the visit of the Manse electricians over the next few weeks so I am sitting amidst a mass of books and boxes. But I […]
I’m just back from my first week away as part of my sabbatical. I’m really thankful to people for their prayers- I’ve had a deeply refreshing week in the Brecon Beacons. As you know, it has been a baking hot week. I spent early mornings and late evenings in the spot above with books in […]
I am about a week into my six week period of sabbatical and holiday. In some ways today feels like the first day of it as last week was mainly spent tidying things up, writing a sermon and recovering (!) from our enjoyable church weekend. I am aware that most people in their jobs don’t […]
Each year we have a vision statement as a church. This year we are looking at Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 10- “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Whenever I’ve pondered that statement my mind has always gone to the pastor-theologian of the 18th century Jonathan Edwards. Of all the […]
Last week we had one of the most encouraging evenings I can remember in the church. I probably can’t put the full details online- suffice it to say that we had the opportunity to celebrate the completion of a translation project that has been ongoing for around 25 years. There have been many ups and […]
Just over a week ago we held a Guest Evening considering the question above. We decided to go for that issue because a number of friends of church members had been asking it- partly in the light of questions off the back of Dan Brown and Melvyn Bragg and partly because some of our ethical […]
Over the past ten days or so I’ve watched two of the BBC’s Easter programmes. There was more traditional fare available (Easter from King’s College and a Songs of Praise)- but I watched Ann Widdecombe on Christianity and Comedy and Melvyn Bragg on Mary Magdalene. Trust be told I watched them before going to bed […]
The first thing I should admit is that this conference was two months ago- I’ve not been good at writing recently! However, I was reflecting recently that I needed to revisit some of the lessons from it so have decided to write it up. The Pastoral Refreshment Conference is organized by Living Leadership. The aim […]