• Women + The Church

    Reading Time: 23 minutes

    The ongoing conversation about the ‘role’ of women; in the church, in marriage, and indeed, in society in general, is not something that is new, only specific to our own time, or a subject that the early Christians didn’t also have to navigate and reevaluate, specifically in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    It’s a subject that impacts me personally, both as a woman and as the mother of two daughters, and my understanding…

  • In Him Was Life

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    “You can’t read the New Testament without seeing the call to holiness in the Christian life. But that holiness is a work of God’s grace as the Holy Spirit empowers the believer to live a life pleasing to God. New Testament holiness is a joyous privilege, not a heavy burden and duty.
     
    New Testament holiness enhances life, it never diminishes it. This is what Jesus modelled so well and it’s why genuine seekers of God were…

  • Keeping The Faith

    Reading Time: 9 minutes

    It’s been nearly five years since the religious community I grew up in ‘regretfully accepted my withdrawal from fellowship’. In reality, I did no such thing, their statement was simply an awkward and disingenuous way to excommunicate me because I could no longer affirm, without reservation, particular tenets they held to be watertight and immutable.
    I feel that had the Bible genuinely been our mutually agreed authority, there would have been no good cause to excommunicate…

  • Crossing Over

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    There are many crossings a human will make in a lifetime.
    Our introduction to life is just the first.
    From the dim, watery, stillness of the womb, we are thrust out into the bright light of day; into this dizzying kaleidoscope we call life. 
    Our lungs, filled with fluid and collapsed upon themselves like waxy, paper bags, suddenly inflate; as our intricately crafted nervous system reacts to the sudden change in temperature and environment. We breathe, for the…

  • The Incarnation Of The Word

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    “In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
     
    He came into the very world he created, but the world…

  • Fidelity In Friendship

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    “Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” | Thessalonians 5:15, ESV

    Fidelity.
    It’s a word perhaps more likely to be used in the context of its absence rather than its presence. Regrettably, it often comes to our attention through it’s lack; infidelity.
    While we tend to think of fidelity as describing physical faithfulness in committed, intimate relationships, it’s not just restricted to these.
    The word fidelity is also used to describe employee loyalty to a…

  • Without The Applause: Examining Celebrity Culture In The Church

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    I recently wrote an article which I called ‘Beneath The Skin’; a critique of sorts of modern Christianity and the Western church.
    The article focused primarily on the collective Christian identity; The Church, not on any one particular denomination or way of ‘doing church’ but, rather, on the church’s influence and presence, as a whole, in the world today. I endeavored to identify both the good and the bad, historically and now, but, in particular, I was…

  • A Guide For LGBTQ+ Christian Teens

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    Are you a Christian teen struggling with or feeling confused by LGBTQ+ and gender identity issues? Then this is a conversation we need to have…
    First of all, know this. You are loved.
    The God of all the Universe, the One in whose image you’re made loves you. He knows you; your innermost fears, your deepest insecurities, and your hopes and dreams for the future. He has counted every hair on your head.
    This is the same God…

  • New Beginnings

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    God is all about new beginnings. We see the story of humanity starting out in Genesis with a new beginning; light and order being formed out of darkness and chaos.
    And we see this theme of light and order echoed in the new beginning that Christians find in Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul the Apostle confirms that “if anyone is in Christ, they have become a new person, a ‘new creation’. The old life is…

  • Judging // Discerning

    Reading Time: 9 minutes

    It seems to me that it has become increasingly difficult to speak into many issues or situations that the church faces today; not because the Bible is silent, not because the church doesn’t have or hasn’t held a historical position on a matter, and not because we, as Christians, don’t know what we ought to be doing. Rather, we are feeling pressed into silence, in many instances, simply on the basis of one little verse…