Wayne Swift queries this statement: ‘A judgmental attitude is birthed by a lack of faith in God and others.’
It’s made up and possibly right but could also be wrong. However this is something I’ve been thinking about and am simply sharing my ponderings below. You’ll need to make up your mind about how to handle this attitude when it turns up, especially in your own life as a church leader. (more…)
Power shift – a biblical prospective
This will mean a ‘power shift where one group loses power and another group gains power.’ Alvin Tofler said this from a natural perspective in the context of a political uprising and the overthrow of a regime. (more…)
The return of Jesus Christ is a wonderful event that all Christians should be looking forward to with great joy and enthusiasm but sometimes that enthusiasm may be distorted.
In the early days of the church, around 50 AD, the Christians in Thessalonica were excited by the knowledge that Jesus was coming back. However some false teachers had entered the church and were teaching that Jesus’ return was about to happen at any moment. Consequently some of the Christians there had stopped working as they waited for Jesus to come back – and Paul rebuked them for that. (more…)
Eva Bevan (Deaf) shares:For over nine years my husband Colin and I have been going to Africa for short-term missionary work. But up until a couple of years ago most of the work in Africa had been with ‘hearing people’ – those with no hearing difficulties. Colin would preach and teach but because there was often no interpreter for me, I had become bored. (more…)
In other words, something nasty wrongly picked up, misunderstood, quickly accepted and passed on.
These is one of the hazards of unpoliced internet…people ‘find’ a lot of material but neither check the source nor its authenticity and unthinkingly forward it on to many other web surfers. And so, ‘stuff’ – especially untruths – is readily accepted and regarded as ‘gospel truth.’
Dick Hardy, Pastoral Leadership Consultant emails:We’re getting so many positive reviews about the free video series we put out last week, I thought I’d give them all to you on one page (with no opt-in required).
You get all four leadership barriers and solutions videos here: http://www.thehardygroup.org
In these videos, we shared about the seven primary barriers we’ve identified that can hinder a leader’s effectiveness: (more…)
Question: I’ve been diagnosed with mental illness and am frightened to tell my very ‘religious’ Christian friends. Please help me.
Theologian Dr Jim McClure responds: ‘Interestingly I actually started to write about mental illness just before the sad news of the death of Robin Williams at the age of 63.’
For nearly 40 years Williams’ unique brand of humour brought much joy to millions of people, but he suffered from depression that led him finally to take his own life. This article therefore is timely and will indeed help you – and others with this illness.
Many people in all walks of life suffer from that same debilitating illness of depression which takes from the sufferer the ability freely to live to his and her potential, and, sadly, many respond to the burden of this mental illness by taking the same route as Robin Williams. (more…)
Dr Bernard Shiu, well-known Geelong general practitioner, shares his professional opinion on depression:In my career, I’ve come across and treated many patients suffering from depression. And, contrary to popular beliefs, it is a pretty common medical condition.
Among those who come and seek help, significant proportions are people who are in authority. This is because they are people who have high expectations of themselves and expect the same from others. And they, surprisingly, include ministers and pastors of churches.
(more…)
Connecting with You! 