Bible Reading Plans

My Bible Reading is pretty patchy. So these are not the pearls of wisdom from a master.

I don't know about you, but I desperately need variety in my daily Bible reading and pray - it so easily become a dry routine for me. So, I keep using different methods.

Sometimes I'll use a structured Bible reading program like the Robert Murray Mccheyne program that take you the whole Bible in one year or 3 years. Sometimes I'll do this with a devotional book - the best ones, like Search the Scriptures by Alan Stubbs (an oldie but a goodie), ask questions rather than give answers. Recently I read thru Andrew Reid's commentary on Daniel while reading the text, really refereshing. Sometimes I'll read Bible book in a longer setting. See the most natural reading plan for a good example - I find this helps me to reflect on a larger pierce of Scripture over a number of days. On that topic, I'm finding myself getting slower and slower in my Bible reading - taking a passage and spending the week reading it each day and continuing to reflect and meditate upon it rather than reading passage after passage with not enough time for reflection.

The Therapeutic Gospel - The best thing I've read this week.

The best thing I've read this week. We're thinking through how we do pastoral care at church. And its struck me how important it is to define what me mean by pastoral care and what we are aiming to do. So much of what we think ought to be pastoral care is defined by the world more than the gospel.



The Therapeutic Gospel

For those who know the dicksons...

For those who know the dicksons (serving with Pioneers in Chang Mai) here is an update on their situation. I'll keep it as up to date as I can. Please continue to pray.

Contact the dicksons to tell them you are praying for them

email Sunday, 8 July 2007 1:58 PM

email Monday, 9 July 2007 1:34 PM

email Tuesday, 10 July 2007 2:18 PM

email Thursday, 12 July 2007 9:43 AM

email Friday, 13 July 2007 10:42 AM

email Saturday, 14 July 2007 11:10 AM

email Saturday, 21 July 2007 12:41 PM

Singleness and Godliness

One of the best things this year was a one-off Friday night thing last week called "Singleness and Godliness". It was well attended across our three congregations and had a great vibe on the night. So far, feedback has been positive.

It went well because we had a great speaker. Jenny Salt did an excellently perceptive and winsome job of raising the issues. As a single woman she said stuff that, for example, would be much harder to hear, if I said them. The key to what Jenny did was that she addressed the issue theologically rather than give out some practical tips for attempting to make the hard bits of being single go away.

There were lots of good things about the night. The presence of older widowed people keen to get help for themselves in thinking about the topic reminded me that singleness is not just an issue for the Bridgett Jones demographic, but comes in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.

But the thing I was really stoked about - the vibe in the room before the talk even started was all about how people (married and single) appreciated that this was an important issue to seek God's mind on. It seemed like a big battle had been won before I even introduced Jenny.

We had described the event, not as an event for singles to attend but for all our church family. We'd said things in the lead up to the night about that. And also pushed the idea that perhaps many married people in our congregation who think they know how to encourage their single brothers and sisters, actually don't! And that those who think they have good theology on the issue may be exactly those who need to think it through a whole lot more. This offended a few people, but got the attention of a whole lot of others who probably otherwise would have just seen it as something for singles. In the end about half those present were not single.

The push to make it an issue "we all need to think through" wasn't about marketing the event to maximise attendance, but wanting to uncompartmentalise pastoral issues, so we do genuinely think not about "my demographics" issues but see the need to think about others, to care across those social barriers and be united in our love for each other. It was a great step forward and important to think about where we go from here.

A perceptive review of Mark Driscoll

Thanks to my mate Grant Beringer for this link. A perceptive and balanced view on Mark Driscoll. I certainly wouldn’t commend Driscoll without reservation. This article is helpful.

Reviews by Mike McKinley

My only quibble with the review is when he comments on Driscoll’s “intentionally irreverent and contrarian” tone and asks “Is it possible that Driscoll, ironically, has failed to tailor his message to the audience?” and that “Where [Driscoll] really has an opportunity to change people’s minds would be among the strongly conservative Christians—the legalist-leaning ones—who tend towards withdrawal as opposed to engagement.” I think Driscoll is deliberately not engaging them but those who are disenchanted with the conservative churches. The language that offends the conservatives is attractive to these people because it offends the conservatives. I think hes real savvy on working out who he can reach effectively!

Cruel but Fair

This is the best talk I've listened to for a while.

Mark Driscoll is at his funniest - but also has some serious stuff to say about the importance of focussing on men's ministry - and what men's ministry is. This talk was given at a Canadian Church Planters Conference - his description of the Canadian evangelical scene sounds a lot like Australia (and Sydney), which makes his perscription quite thought provoking. As well as the focus on reaching and discipling men, his comments about the pulls to liberalism and fundamentalism are quite helpful.

click here to listen to Mark Driscoll talk (or right click to download)