Earlier this week the evangelist Michael Green went to be with the Lord. Hearing the news brought back precious memories of “Choose Life”- the OICCU Mission of 1997 that happened when I was a student. I well recall Michael preaching the Gospel with radiant joy in the Sheldonian Theatre normally garbed in a slightly absurd […]
One of my favourite books from last year was Mark Meynell’s When Darkness seems my Closest Friend. It is a description of mental illness from a Christian pastor who has experienced it. One of the best features of the book is his ability to articulate the reality of mental illness for those who haven’t endured […]
Last term in our homegroups we spent time reflecting on the character of God. There is a limitless wealth of material when you do that and, inevitably, you cannot say everything. But there is one reality that I wish I had focused on more because I am not sure it is a strength of conservative […]
Earlier this week I wrote a general reflection on 2018. However, before the old year fades completely from our minds, I thought it might be useful to write something more specific to Woody Road. What have been the key events of 2018 and what are the lessons to learn? Farewells One of my chief reflections […]
So what was 2018 like for you? Looking back I have had a good year- enjoyable holidays, pleasant times with family and friends, the privilege of speaking in a variety of contexts alongside a good year for us as a church (that I’ll aim to write about later in the week). But what if 2018 […]
It was my final year at university and I was the secretary of the Christian Union. I served alongside a great committee but there was a point when it became too much for me. That was partly work pressure but also the personal issues I’ve alluded to in the past. Spiritually I felt confused, disorientated […]
A while back, a friend of mine came up with a pithy tweet. “You’re so vain, you probably think this Psalm is about you.” The character limit didn’t permit an explanation but I am pretty confident that this was an argument that the Psalms, like the rest of Scripture, are first and foremost about Christ […]
I have preached a lot on the subject of prayer recently- it has come up in a number of passages that we have covered as a church. My sense is that it is probably an area where we fall short compared with Christians of a previous generation. I continue to be struck by CH Spurgeon’s […]
In my first post on the Mountain Bible School I noted that I had persistently used a phrase when teaching through John 13-21: “It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian.” It was an attempt to summarise the raft of privileges that Jesus promises His disciples in these chapters. However, I can imagine circumstances […]
I spent last week speaking on John 13-21 at the Oak Hall Mountain Bible School in the German Black Forest. It was a busy time- I covered those chapters in eleven sermons and five interactive sessions. However, there was something wonderful about that. Speaking day after day rather than week after week it was more […]