Over the years I have been a great fan of the evangelistic potential of Alpha courses, and used to run two every year. As a result, I had the joy of baptising people who came to faith through these courses. However, increasingly I have become aware that Alpha has its ...
Our recent competition offering a free copy of Spiritual Care with Sick Children and Young People, by P Nash, K Darby and S Nash (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015; 220pp; £14.99; ISBN 978 1 84905 389 1) to the best three entries offering suggestions for pastoral ministry to children and young ...
The following has appeared in various publications (including my book 'Your Church Can Come Alive', JBCE, Melbourne). It represents the kernel of my philosophy of ministry. It was 10.00pm, and the 60-year-old patient would not last the night. She was still conscious, so her grieving daughter and I prepared for a bedside vigil. Then a thought: I preach about the ministry of the whole church, so why was I there in the hospital? I phoned the chairman of elders, and asked him to arrange for a different person to come each hour. They did, and he himself was there at 4.00am when the lady died. He committed the departed and grieving ones to the Lord, and 'went home on a high', privileged to have been involved in such a strategic pastoral opportunity! When I saw him last week – twelve years later – he lit up again as he talked about it!
Sometime in the 1990s, a striking saying became popular. “Preach the gospel and if necessary use words.” Attributed to Francis of Assisi, riding on his reputation and widely quoted by people who should have known better, it seemed to fit the mood of Christians who were disaffected with evangelism as ...
In 2001, I took a journey of 12 miles and entered another world. Our family moved from the St Helier Estate, the largest council estate south of the Thames, where 40,000 Londoners were housed on a ‘garden estate’ in the 1930s by the London County Council, to Redhill, a commuter ...
Introduction Jubilee is a theme which runs richly through the Old and New Testaments, culminating, particularly famously, in Jesus’ pronouncement in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4.16-21). The commandments for the Jubilee and Sabbath years are set out most fully in Leviticus 25, a passage rich in theological meaning. This paper ...
You are reading Issue 66 of Ministry Today, published in March 2016.
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