In his classic work The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, Hendrik Kraemer makes a significant observation. In a section dealing with what he calls "adaptation", but which today is dubbed "contextualisation" by missiologists, he comments concerning Paul and John: They probably did not bother much about adaptation as a special problem, but about expression [...]
Read more...Ministry in General
Christ’s Under-Rowers?
Monday, August 11th, 2008Last night I was at Cronulla Presbyterian Church listening to a sermon by Ian Stenhouse on 1 Corinthians 4. He opened by stressing the importance of having a proper opinion of oneself, illustrating this from the way Paul spoke about himself. Ian, drawing from an article by John Piper, drew attention to John Owen, whom [...]
Read more...Structural Change and Reform: The Cruciality of Conviction
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008Christians sometimes make the error of trying to effect spiritual reform by structural change. So we tinker with the format and content of church services. We might try to change denominational church laws by way of trying to entrench practices which we believe presuppose sounder biblical theology, hoping that by so doing the denomination will become [...]
Read more...Staying the Distance: Luke 12:1-12
Thursday, March 13th, 2008Last night Paul Cooper preached a great sermon on Luke 12:1-12. The occasion was the graduation ceremony of the Presbyterian Theological Centre. Paul was addressing students who were about to begin or were preparing for pastoral ministry. He began by noting the sad fact that many do not last the distance. Many leave the pastoral [...]
Read more...The Peacemaker / Sande
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007This immensely helpful book provides a guide for resolving conflict employing “the Four G’s”: (1) Glorify God; (2) Get the log out of your eye; (3) Gently restore; (4) Go and be reconciled. The Peacemaker
Read more...Suffering for God’s Glory
Sunday, July 15th, 2007A close friend had suffered from health problems for many years and had struggled with cancer. But what disturbed him far more was watching the gradual deterioration of his wife’s health and the suffering she experienced as her body succumbed to increasing levels of disability. His commitment to Christ was not in doubt. But he [...]
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