‘Aslan is on the move!’ I still get chills every time I think of that line. It fills me with hope, and it makes me brave. Like many Christians, I love the Narnia series, however unlike many Christians, I wasn’t bought up with it. I watched the movie ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe’ […]
This is related to a post I put up a few weeks back on part of my journey with bullying when I worked for the Church of England. About ten years ago I decided to share some of this story of abuse with a Christian leader at a conference who was offering to talk and […]
Play is, in my opinion, an essential quality in a human being. It’s one of the ways that we learn to interact with people, to solve problems, to relive stress, and – most importantly – to discover something of the spark of the divine within us. Play is a concept you can trace throughout world […]
“Its political correctness gone mad!” he said. “You can’t say anything without offending anyone these days. Generation of sissy-ass snowflakes!” Hmmmm. We could look at this idea from the point of view of ‘rights vs responsivities’ (spoiler, you don’t get to pick one for yourself and the other for everyone else). Or we could look […]
Between the ages of 18 and 25, I lived in a highly critical environment. This started at Bible College, where every statement and behaviour went under a theological microscope. This wasn’t helped by being the youngest student there and coming from a very different cultural and church background to most to of the student body. […]
Editors can be weird. Really weird. I thought I’d share a couple of “those” stories today. If you’re reading this, then you’ll probably know me as a Christian blogger. What you might not know, however, is that I spent several years freelancing as a copywriter for some high-profile clients. I’ve written for large tech blogs, […]
There’s been a few comments online this Summer subtly (or not so subtly) making fun of Christians all suddenly starting podcasts or writing books. Millennial Christian bashing is fun bandwagon to jump on after all, and it’s an easy group to snipe at. And I kinda get it. There are often pride issues inherent in […]
This is not a topic I usually address publicly, and rarely privately either – at least not in detail. However, many recent posts on institutional bullying in the church has made me want to say something about my own story. My wife and I have been on the receiving end of institutional bullying inside the […]
One of the most fundamental things we can do with our young people is to help them develop a prayer language. And, as with any language, learning to listen for where that language is already developing on its own is essential for this to work. My first word, so I’m told by my parents, was […]
Yep, you read that right, and no, I can’t believe I had to say it either. However, early last week a post surfaced on a very popular youth ministry Facebook group called ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Octopus’. Accompanying the post was a picture of a teenage boy holding up a large – and clearly dead […]