Posts by Jason Nelson (Page 47)

Posts by Jason Nelson (Page 47)

9 in 10 claimants ‘fit to work’

I have been reading the headlines over the last few days with a sort of wry resignation. Check out an article here to get a grasp of the ‘issue’. Apparently, our government are only just ‘discovering’ that many incapacity benefit claimants are actually ‘fit to work’! The Scots, it appears, are the worst when it comes to making false…

Updated & Upgraded

I have spent most of my afternoon putting my articles and stuff into better organised categories (I can hear John Piper screaming, ‘Don’t waste your life’ as I write this), so hopefully this means my older stuff is now more easily accessible. And just in case anybody is really taking any notice, my address has changed to www.niddriepastor.com. Thanks for…

How to preach the gospel to yourself…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSTc0a_xsCA&feature=player_embedded#at=13] Caveat: It may be confusing as he refers to the fruit of the spirit as the gifts of the spirit, but I think he means that this fruit is a gift per se. Good stuff though in terms of challenging people with the gospel and not with moralism. The key is a change of heart first before a…

Why Christians need to read

Further to some earlier videos I posted on this issue, I have been interested to note wide ranging discussion on this topic across a range of blogs. John Brand offers some good insights here on his site and offer further links to the topic. One of the questions is what should Christians be reading, given that there is so much rubbish out there in the market place. See…

Stranger on the Road

I came across this book about 10 years ago when I worked in an inner city church in Birmingham. It takes its title from the encounter Jesus had with 2 disciples on the way to Emmaus in Luke 24. In v27 we read that, ‘beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He (Jesus) expounded to them all the scriptures the things concerning himself.’ Taking this premise the…

Culturally Relevant Evangelism

A church you know is putting on an event with classical music, poetry recitals and then offering cheese and wine (non alcoholic of course!) afterward as a way to reach unbelievers? What is our reaction to this? Another church, in an attempt to attract unbelievers, puts on a karaoke style event with a chip supper? What is our reaction to this? The temptation, depending on…

Church Planting v Church Renewal

There have been many articles written on this topic from a theoretical point of view. What is the advantage of planting a church from scratch over and against the hive model (taking a group of pre-existing Christians and launching them as a ‘plant’)? I have experience of both models and here are some initial and tentative observations. When I planted the Good…