I'm delighted to commend to readers of this blog an upcoming day conference in North London. It is organised by Emmanuel Church in North London, where my friend Steve Jeffery is the minister. One of the things I have always appreciated about Emmanuel is the way they enjoy putting events on that will serve the wider church.
Here's some of the blurb from their website.
It's a perennial tension: How do we create church meetings where the church family are cared for, able to worship, fed and equipped to serve Christ in their week-round lives? And how do we simultaneously create meetings where newcomers and visitors are welcome and where things are accessible?
There's a good deal of wisdom and further asking of the right questions over at The Good Book Blog at a post entitled Meetings: For family and their friends.
Here is CS Lewis, talking about why it is that people like to undermine St Paul whilst maintaining that they follow Christ.
A number of us heard an extremely helpful talk this morning from Hugh Palmer, rector of All Souls Langham Place in London. He reminded a group of us, all in church leadership or pastoral ministry of some kind, to keep first things first.
I'm greatly heartened to read Richard Perkins' recent post: 5 ways to profit from a rubbish sermon.
(Mercifully,) a sermon can fall far, far short of what it should be, and people can still profit from it. That doesn't mean it's OK not to try, but for me just to settle for preaching badly. But isn't it good to know that preaching badly also doesn't mean it's OK for the hearer to have to settle for hearing nothing? In patnership, as the preacher unfolds the text as well as he can, the congregation can seek to hear the voice of God as clearly as they can. And then they will.
Go on, read it! He has some excellent suggestions.
I've finally finished reading William Still's fine The Work of the Pastor. Perhaps a better heading for this post would be the need for perspective. Anyway, here's a word for our own day:
There are some very helpful distinctions and other points made in an article by Doug Wilson on Lent. With a month to go before the season begins, I'd commend it to readers of this blog.
Those wishing to pray for the church in Iran may like to read this recent report that has documented the persecution there since June 2010.
The headline is this: “We know for sure that at least 202 Christians have been arbitrarily arrested in 24 cities in Iran since June 2010. 33 remain in prison today. This has happened against the background of government officials publicly speaking out against Christians.”
The report is available from http://www.elam.com/articles/202-arrests,-33-still-in-prison.
I think this post from Steve Jeffery is very helpful
2 Samuel 6 describes what King David did when the Ark of the LORD was brought into the city of Jerusalem.
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