In May last year, the police in Massachusetts had a problem. They had the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston bombers, but nowhere to bury it. Cemeteries in three states had refused to provide a plot for his remains. The chief of police even went on national television to ask for help. He [...]
Christmas, violence & Sainsbury’s
'Is this the greatest Christmas ad ever?' A month ago, the British supermarket chain, Sainsbury's, released an ad commemorating the famous Christmas Day football match between British and German forces in 1914. In this ad, the celebration of Christmas becomes a universally shared circuit-breaker in the constancy of violence. This connection of Christmas Day and the temporary ceasefire [...]
Self-esteem, fear of people & Christmas
Are you over-committed? Is self-esteem a critical issue for you? Do you ever feel as if you might be exposed as an impostor? Do you get easily embarrassed? Do you ever tell 'white' lies? Are you jealous of other people? Do you avoid certain people? Do you find it hard to invite people to church, [...]
Water that grass, glorious hijacker
I am a "grass-is-greener" kind of guy. It's in my nature. If I'm at the beach, I think of how nice it would be in the mountains. If I'm in a crowd, I catch myself reflecting how great it would be to be alone with a cup of coffee. And so on. Facebook doesn't help, [...]
Something new in our giving & teaching at Barneys
By the grace of our God, the generosity of our congregation has marvellously supplied the needs of Barneys and the partners that we support. As a result, total giving is ahead of target, which is a huge answer to prayer. That said, we are going to make some changes to the collection of giving on Sundays. [...]
The Mars Hill crash & me
The last 12 months have been devastating for Mars Hill Church in Seattle and their globally recognised teaching pastor, Mark Driscoll. Numerous former and present pastors, elders and members have described the church culture as abusive and manipulative, and criticised a process of concentration of extraordinary power among very few hands, including the power to [...]
Prayer and mission
Col 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Col 4:3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Nowhere else in [...]
Why women should not be silent in the churches
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 [...]
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 [...]
michael paget 