Northern Souls

In the last blog in this series, I looked at the question of how a church should pastorally respond to same-sex attracted non-Christians. This time I want to consider how the church should respond to same-sex attracted Christians.We are a Church of Saved SinnersFirst, it’s important to say that every local church is a church of saved sinners. In the Bible, the major focus of the “church” is not the building, or the denomination, or the institution. The common meaning of the Greek word translated as church (ekklesia) is “assembly,” i.e. the people of God assembled together. The people in this case are, of course, those who have repented and believed in the good news of Jesus (Mark 1:15). So, the church is the assembly of saved sinners.It is not just that we were sinners and now we’re perfect - each time we meet should make that clear, however much we try to put our Sunday best on! No, the Bible is clear that we live with an ongoing conflict with sin (Galatians 5:17). So the church is m…

The magazine article for September:With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. (1 Peter 5:12 NIV)It was a tough time for the church. The society around didn’t know anything much about Jesus, “living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and destestable idolatry” (1 Peter 4:3) and they were increasingly antagonistic towards Christians - even when they were only doing good things. It could have been worse (in time it would be), but there were insults, mockery and unjust punishments. To be a Christian was to be be despised rather than respected. That was how it was in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) when the apostle Peter wrote to them.Perhaps that sounds a little familiar to now. Once we might have thought we lived in a Christian country, but things seems a little more like 1 Peter 4:3 in the UK now and bit-by-bit we seem to be seeing Christia…

My August magazine article, which also briefly reflects my concern with some of what was said around General Synod about Jesus the Word and the word of God the Bible.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24 NIV) The artist Michaelangelo said that:
“There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.” If that’s true, then a lifetime that has been wasted is a terrible thing. It should make us fear getting to the end of our lives and looking back on a wreck of wasted time and opportunity. So how can we make sure that our lives are not wasted?

Jesus tells us a short story about wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27). It’s perhaps one of his most famous and one that children have often heard in school or in Sunday School. It’s so simple. A wise man builds a solid house by choosing a solid foundation. When the storms come, it stands up to them. The foolish man builds a weak house, on …

A key question in this discussion is: how should the church love those who experience same-sex attraction? In the last blog, I began to look at some of the implications for the church of the Biblical view of same-sex relationships that I have outlined. In that blog I focused on the impact of the pressure of the change in society and the conflict within the church that has caused. In that conflict, the tendency seems to be to paint those who take a biblical line as harsh, unloving and homophobic. This is sad, because nothing could be further from the truth.

In thinking about how a church can be faithful to what God has said on sexuality and show love and compassion to those who experience same-sex attraction (which is also what God says!), it can help to think of people in different situations. Inevitably this will involve some generalization, but hopefully it can still be helpful. In this blog, I want to reflect on how Christians and the church should respond to non-Christians who exp…

Introduction Whatever you believe, you have to be able to explain the existence of evil or wrong in the world don't you? We all have a sort of inbuilt antenna or conscience that reacts when we see something we feel is morally wrong. It picks up those well publicized evils: Nazi Germany, the horrors of the moors murders, the vileness of some of the sex abuse cases at the moment and so on.

But it also works at a more personal level.  Our consciences prick us when we know we've done something wrong: the lie we tell, the gossip we share, the unkind thought we have. We know that evil exists within each one of us. It's something that seems to come naturally.

As a parent, I don't spend my time teaching my children to be naughty.  That came naturally enough. No, I have to spend time teaching them to be good.  You know in yourself that even when you're being “good” that behind that is a whole bunch of mixed motives.  I'm good when people are watching, because I want the…

Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. (2 John 1:9-11 NIV) So the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have invited the Bishop of Edinburgh to be a special guest next week at General Synod, which has, not surprisingly, upset many orthodox believers as it is this Bishop who proposed the motion in the Scottish Episcopal Church to change the marriage canons to allow same-sex marriages.

As a Church of England minister, one of the most difficult aspects of the Church of England is to work out how to deal with the false teachers (there are really quite a lot of them, after all!). It seems to me that John helps us out in fairly clear terms in his second letter. The false teaching in question is related to the incarnatio…