Yesterday at our staff prayer meeting at church, we had a bunch of different newspapers out and we prayed for the world and all that’s going on in it. I saw a story about Francis Maude, UK Cabinet Office minister, and it made me sad. He was speaking about making government services more readily available […]
Last night my church did something that reminded me of one of my favourite things ever. It was a joint church prayer meeting. May not sound much, but I loved it. It embodied one of the best things ever: Churches being united. I grew up in a youth group run by people from a number of local […]
What a presumptuous title for a blog post! It sounds like I, Dave Criddle, think I’ve cracked it and have the how-to guide on how to share the good news. Far from it!! This week, I preached on 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10. In it Paul describes how he shared the gospel with non-believers in Thessalonica. I was deeply challenged by his evangelistic method(s) and […]
I remember one of the things I was taught at church as a child was this: being a Christian isn’t just about being a nice person. How true! A living Christian faith isn’t about being polite. We aren’t just called to be ‘nice’. We are called to be transformed, new people enlivened with the peace and […]
I’m going to be honest. Sometimes I don’t feel like praying, reading my Bible or going to church to be around other Christians. I’ll be even more honest and say this: sometimes when I’ve felt like that I’ve just not bothered. I don’t think this is just me – I imagine it’s a fairly universal Christian experience. […]
My next instalment in the “Why are you a Christian?” series is from my friend James. I owe a lot to James. He used to be my youth leader and has had a profound impact on my life. He was trying to teach me about Jesus, and he did that plenty. But on top of that, […]
Ok, I have to declare a vested interest on this one. I am part of the leadership of the youth track for this conference, but even if I weren’t I’d still think it is a great conference and very worthy way to spend a weekend in June. It’s called GO Fest, and that one word […]
Because of other commitments I haven’t been at home for the whole of Easter week in quite a few years. I’ve been home for Good Friday and then been elsewhere for Easter Sunday, or the other way round, or something else, but never at home for the whole of Holy Week. Until this year. This […]
Eric Pickles, the UK Communities Secretary, has come out recently and said that Britain is a ‘Christian nation’ and that ‘militant atheists’ should just ‘get over it’. This was in the context of defending a law that ensured the rights of councils who wished to pray at the start of public meetings. That would be […]
It’s been a couple of weeks since the last “Why are you a Christian?” post, but I promise it hasn’t gone away. Still plenty more, and today I have a contribution from a friend called Cheryl. Cheryl is part of our church, and is also a member of the small group that Mel and I are […]