As we enter into a new year, some approach the year with a sense of foreboding and fear, others with a sense of opportunity and excitement. Still others look at the days to come with a certain coolness of spirit — a disinterest and detachment — that is neither excited nor anxious, because we cannot tell what tomorrow will bring. Truly as James 4 reminds us, we are merely a mist, and we should neither say with certitude that we know what tomorrow will bring, for only He that is eternal, unchanging and enduring can speak of tomorrow with certainty.
We've closed the chapter on this Fellowship series on love, sex, marriage and relationships. In the series we presented the central Biblical teaching on what it means to be single, date, marry and have children -- all in the context of a relentless pursuit of Christ according to His Word. To this end, we referenced opposing worldviews, and the way that secular culture is unravelling traditional views and positing new lifestyles, which are increasingly gaining traction with young adults.
I was asked to share my “testimony” on the topic and I was stressed about what to share. There are many struggles when it comes to gender but perhaps I should stress that the most important but neglected struggle is with what the Bible says rather than the struggle to find an answer that will satisfy my assumptions. So while I’m far from perfect, let me share how I’ve struggled with what the Bible says at different points in my life.
I’ll share my struggles under three statements:
Google “deconversion” and a whole bunch of people’s accounts of leaving Christianity will appear. One high profile former Christian leader, now “deconverted”, reads “I don’t view this moment negatively. I feel very much alive, and awake, and surprisingly hopeful.” These testimonies of faith, doubt, decision and clarity invert what we know to be the traditional testimony of conversion where someone publicly bears witness to faith in Jesus Christ: sin and doubt, decision (repentance and faith), faith and clarity. A string of high-profile examples can be found coinciding with the Trump era as a strong erosion of confidence in the Gospel’s power and the straightforwardness of the Christian life has taken hold. As one article observes, the power of this new wave of stories is not “the actual arguments themselves…[that are] so persuasive. It’s the people behind the arguments.”
We have resumed studies in person on Wednesday nights but more important that our gathering, we hope that you are attending your own churches in person and not substituting watching online with physical presence. Here are at least three arguments why you should leave your house and assemble with God's people for worship as a church (not with us).
Is a change of heart really impossible? Are we powerless before the patterns, routines and rut of sinful living and thinking?
Into this complicated world of speaking loudly to no one and everyone, how should we steward influence and leadership, especially for those of us who occupy a position, both formally and informally in communities and organisation which bear the name of Christ?
In 2 Thess 1:1-4, we read of how the apostles write that they “ought always to give thanks to God” fro the church “as is right”. The application from this verse is not too difficult — we too, ought to give thanks to God for the people in our churches and Bible study groups.
But how can we do so? How can we be as specific as Paul without just offering a broad “thank you God for the people in my church”? Here are twenty things you could look for in others!
Psalm 42 teaches us how to speak to our soul and teach our hearts to hope in God.
Marie Kondo has recently introduced the phrase “spark joy” into popular speech. Christians often speak about joy too, but what does it really mean? What if I’m not really feeling the joy of Christ now? What if He just isn’t sparking joy for me? Does it mean that I’m not a Christian, and what should I do?
Is this your struggle? Has it crossed your mind before? If so, you are not alone.
One-on-one. Life-on-life.
Perhaps you’ve heard these phrases used to describe Christian discipleship. But what exactly should one do when we meet another?
It’s not that difficult, and a lot of it is quite intuitive. Here, we’ve split it into 3 categories: before, during and after the meeting.
“I didn’t really get it. All my life growing up, I have only known God to be an idea, formed out of Christian vocabulary and descriptions I hear at church, and fuzzy memories of “Bible bedtime stories”.”
In this post, Christina, who attends Fellowship, shares with us her journey of Bible reading and discovering the riches in God’s Word.
