Covenant Renewal
The language of ‘covenant’ has a much wider history in the church than merely those churches and congregations that self-identify as ‘covenantal’. Some include it merely as a reflection of…
Mark Johnston
In it Together
Ours is an age of rapidly rising social disintegration. Loneliness and isolation are major issues – not just for the elderly, but for every other age group as well. It…
The one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
Christians have a remarkable ability to skew what the Bible’s teaches about the church. As with so many things in life, we tend to perceive and define it with ourselves…
Preaching: a 3-Way Engagement
Preaching is often described (and derided) as ‘monological discourse’. At one level this is true; but scratch beneath the surface and we quickly realise that nothing could be less true.…
Liturgies: their Value and their Limitations
Just recently I had the opportunity to worship in the church in which I grew up. It is Episcopalian and for the first time in a very long time I…
The Good Fight
It is fascinating to see how St Paul looks back over his Christian life in face of his fast approaching departure from this world. Writing to Timothy, he describes it…
Discipline: the Misconstrued Grace
It was John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, who added discipline to the word and sacraments as the third mark of a faithful church. Perhaps it was because the Celts are…
We will devote ourselves to Prayer
How much is prayer a priority in the life of those who are called to the ministry? It is a probing question, because it relates largely to the hidden life…
Polity and Ecclesiology
It is a very human trait, one from which even theologians are not immune: the tendency to make ourselves the default reference point for everything. We do it without realising…
‘No longer Orphans’
Jesus is simultaneously the master theologian and the perfect pastor. He sets the deepest of truths before his people, but in a way that pastorally meets their deepest needs. This…
Fullness of Joy and Pleasures Forevermore
The very first John Piper book I read was Future Grace. Its title is taken from Peter’s exhortation, ‘Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when…
For the Joy Set before Him
It is one of those ‘stop-you-in-your-tracks’ type statements that crops up in the Bible from time to time. ‘Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its…