You, I, and everyone else in the world have a vocation. But what is a vocation? I’m not talking about some kind of preordained task that everyone has to fulfil. Instead, what I mean is that everyone has something they can do. Each person has a way they can be human that uniquely participates in…
Leadership is at the centre of contemporary discussions about the church. Questions such as: What does it mean to be a church leader? When did the church start using the language of leadership instead of priest, pastor, presbyter, or pastor? Is leadership really appropriate in relation to God’s church? I think there is a real…
Spiritual Warfare is one of those topics that gets people either all hot and bothered or makes them scoff and turn their noses up. But I think the reality of spiritual warfare is not ghost-busting or fighting demons like a Marvel character. In this piece I’m going to try and give another dimension to what…
One of my favourite quotations comes from the American philosopher, political commentator, and theologian Cornell West. He wrote that: “Love in public is justice, and love in private is tenderness.” Today I am concentrating on what it might mean to say that justice is the public act of loving the neighbour. Justice is Always Something…
For a Salvation Army Officer, part of life is moving from one role to another with some frequency throughout their career. But each move brings with it a whole range of complexities, anxieties, and opportunities, which makes for a heady mix of emotions, especially when combined with the loss of the previous appointment and the…
Salvationism struggles with an obsession over its identity, which can create fear. But what is it about Salvationist symbols and culture that gets people so passionate? Passionate in a way I don’t see in quite the same way in other denominations? Issues That Kill Our Energy There are always ‘those issues’ in churches and denominations…
What can local churches do to work for justice in their communities? In this article, we see how Local Churches can use practical politics to seek justice in 8 steps. I am drawing from the work of Dr. Helen Cameron in her book Just Mission: Practical Politics for Local Churches. The book is available from…
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes Perhaps at no other time in history have people been so divided. Here are 7 Steps to Disagreeing Well that will hopefully start to change things. Whether cultural, political, ideological, or religious, there are huge divides that seem uncrossable. We have lost the art of disagreeing well. Differences descend into…
Over six years, I worked part-time towards a PhD in divinity from the University of Aberdeen. As it entered its final stages, I spent some time reflecting on what I learned about actually doing a PhD and what I wish I had known at the beginning. Here are the 10 lessons I wished I’d known…
⚠ Content Note This post is a sensitive subject and includes discussion about suicide and death. There are no graphic descriptions given, but the conversation is about suicide. Please be aware before reading further. What follows comes from my experience of suicide from working in The Salvation Army UK’s homelessness service, working as an officer…