We are often told that we are not what we do. Yet this assertion is not enough to stop us from overworking and overdoing. And it is not quite true. How might we better understand the relationship between doing and being as leaders? And in such a way that we are finally able to order our activity in ways that don't undermine who we are.
I don’t know what your mental health journey is like, it might be recent, or long suffering. I err on the side of sharing some more of mine in the hope it helps you know you are not alone. And I hope what I share provides understanding of your own mental health. Or maybe you are reading this wanting to understand and better help someone else.
Some of my students at George Fox have asked me about this article that declares the Myers-Briggs test to be totally meaningless. Then I’ve seen it re-posted on many friends Facebook walls. The article is almost troll like, deliberately intent on provoking readers into an emotional response to generate readership and comments.
Speaking about George Orwell's book 1984 Dorian Lynskey, in Ministry of Truth right , "By definition, a country in which you are free to read Nineteen Eighty-Four is not the country described in Nineteen Eighty-Four".
With the state of our modern western world and politics, I have for the first time like many, started to read 1984.
During my sabbatical, I got to speak and teach this month at the wonderful Aylesbury Vineyard Church. I took my cue from the famous message “Do You Know Him?” by the late Dr. S. M. Lockridge. I asked whether our life matches an encounter with the incredible God of whom Lockridge speaks of.
Back in January this year, I wrote a long in depth article diagnosing the decline of church attendance amongst Evangelicals. I then edited that article into a much shorter more academic piece for a presentation at the Society of Vineyard Scholars, that you can download here.
The long article and shorter version are a thin slice of my PhD work on Evangelicals, and consumer culture.
…the way and the door to Easter Sunday is not by escaping, but by another way. It is through participation. By coming close to all we want to avoid, to wade through the things we are numb to and sometimes can only describe in clinical detail. To stop turning away, and instead to turn towards, and climb over the rubbish and decay of our lives and others. To arrive and sit at the foot of the cross and ask
Too often pastors take their identity from what they measure in ways that distort their identity. Then other people can use measures for pastors that are soul destroying. This article explores a spirituality of measuring, of how pastors might better understand how to measure in ways that allow their identity in Christ to flourish and their ministries to grow.
It’s often claimed you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. I explore how and why this is not only untrue, but also very damaging to Christian formation and mission.
We live in an age of sound bites, virtue signalling and polarised sniping. This site is not the place for those kinds of comments. So three simple guidelines for comments and conversation here.
