The Long Read

The closing verses of Acts 2 inspire us with a vision of what church could be. The description of the life of the early church is thrilling, and causes us to wonder - what if? What if we could be more like this? What would it have been like to be part of this vibrant church? It's natural to wonder - why can't we be more like this now? That's the Acts 2 Challenge. It's a challenge every generation needs to take up. It can't be worked out and the secret passed on. With each

Miller tells the story of a transformed church prayer meeting as the whole church grasped the concept of Kingdom Prayer. As I read it, I knew I needed to grasp this concept, and I desired a church which grasped it too.

What do passion and patience have in common? They both begin with same two letters, but beyond that it is hard to see. If you where playing a word association game, I doubt patience would follow passion. If we think of a passionate person, and we imagine one who is pushing ahead with projects. They never slow down, never seem to rest. They have an idea and they pursue it relentlessly. They are zealous, driven, a real leader of others. Their passion is contagious, drawing

Today, after more than 9 weeks in lockdown, we have begun to gently walk the road out as we enter phase 1 of the exit plan. One of the many differences to our lives for the foreseeable future is the advice to wear a face covering in public - on buses and in shops, and I presume that will extend to churches too. Over recent weeks I have seen different approaches to wearing face masks. Some people are wearing medical grade face coverings, others have their cloth or paper mask

A couple of weeks ago I said 'Alexa, ask the bible to read the book of Revelation.' Around 1hr 20mins later, David Suchet had finished reading aloud the book of Revelation. It was wonderful to listen too, something which I would encourage everyone to do. In order to persuade you to listen to this book, I want to share some of the impressions and impact my listening had on me. These are difficult, unprecedented days. We don't really need to say that, as we all are living

Over the past week I have part of a group being trained to use the 'Trauma Healing Course'. The group was an eclectic bunch of pastors, church and voluntary sectors workers as well as lay leaders, coming from the Church of Scotland, United Free, Baptist, Independent and Pentecostal churches. We where ably facilitated by Pearl (Scottish Bible Society) and Dorothy (volunteer trainer), who where being mentored by Rebecca (Trauma Healing Institute). The course has emerged from