Last week, I wrote a short post called 'Where do I stand on the issue of women preachers?'. The post wasn't intended to mount an argument for one position or another. Rather, it was written in response to questions I have been asked from inside and outside the church that I pastor, St Barnabas Broadway. The [...]
Month: May 2014
PART 3: The conversation that church plants and established churches need to have
You could be forgiven for thinking that this series of posts is fundamentally about cash. Actually, it has almost nothing to do with money. Money works as an example of the two points I've made (slowly) so far: Churches make commitments that are not as flexible as the size of their membership. When members leave, [...]
PART 2: The conversation that church plants and established churches need to have
Last week I made the boring but necessary point that some church costs can scale with size, whereas others do not. Today, I want to tell a fable, and then ask a question. New Church Suppose a church plant - let's call it 'New Church' - reaches a stage in their life together when they [...]
Where do I stand on the issue of women preachers?
In recent days, a number of people have asked me where I stand in the issue of women preaching in church. This is a question that matters to me. It matters because I'm the senior minister of one of the most recognisable Anglican churches in the country. It matters because my church, St Barnabas Broadway, [...]
Why my wife is not the most amazing wife in the world
My wife is not the most amazing wife in the world. Some of you - especially those who actually know my wife, Fiona - will be appalled at what I have written. You will note that when I first came on staff at my church, members of the congregation found it hard to believe we [...]
PART 1: The conversation that church plants and established churches need to have
There is a conversation that church plants and established churches need to have. It isn't happening. And this is a problem. Over three posts, I'm going to unpack some uncomfortable truths about the relationship between old and new churches, about effective resourcing of mission and about the dark side of the minister's heart. Another conversation Many Christians [...]
Why I love the parish church
You might think, from the state of the current conversation around mission and church planting, that parish churches have had their day. That they are a quaint, nostalgic and ineffective legacy of comfy Christendom. But parish churches have never been more important. It is true that a great deal of evangelism naturally proceeds along lines that largely [...]
michael paget 