When we want to change – but find it difficult
Steve Midgley
Date posted: 4 Aug 2025
“You always do that!”
Their
argument,
and
his
response,
was
discouragingly
familiar.
The same critique, the same
sulking withdrawal.
“Why do I always do that?” It had been a
few months this time – she was beginning
to think she had cracked it. But a couple
of clicks and she was back in the mire. Her
resolutions, once again, proved no match for
the strength of her habit.
imperfect parenting
Parenting: When we’re not there
Katie Holloway
Date posted: 3 Aug 2025
There’s nothing quite like a new experience
to reveal our hearts, is there? As I’m writing
this, I’m getting my eldest (who is nine)
ready to go to a camp for the first time. I
knew she would be a mixture of nervous
and excited. What’s surprised me is how
I’m reacting to the preparations.
Last night I lay awake with these thoughts
running
through my head: Will
she get
a headache
from
forgetting
to wear her
reading glasses? What if she doesn’t put on
her sun cream properly? Will she know who
to turn to if she’s feeling homesick?
the ENd word
Lead on Good Shepherd
Jon Barrett
Date posted: 3 Aug 2025
As a kid growing up in a Christian family
I was
always
familiar with
the 23rd
Psalm, although for some while my young
mind was confused about who “Shirley
Goodness” was, or why she’d want to follow
me all the days of my life.
I had a bit of a gift as a youngster
for mishearing things, also spending time
pondering what a “foggle” was after first
hearing
the
song Bright Eyes –
it wasn’t
until I was in my 20s that I realised Art
Garfunkle actually sang “there’s a fog along
the horizon!”
earth watch
Is real change possible in stewarding God’s earth?
Paul Kunert
Date posted: 2 Aug 2025
Is real change possible? That,
for
those
who watch closely our heating world, is
the crucial question. If we’re to avoid the
worst effects of climate breakdown, we need
actual real change.
Or to bring it into the Biblical narrative, if
we’re to fulfil our first calling to rule and care
for all creation as God’s agents, we’ll need
actual real change. It sounds obvious but it’s
not always easy to see.
Ten questions with Jonny Pollock
en staff
Date posted: 2 Aug 2025
Jonny Pollock is married to Julie and father
to Benjamin, Joshua and Caleb, as well as
the pastor of Calvary Church Loughrea in
Galway. He enjoys reading, writing, soccer
and coffee. One of those fuels the others!
1. How did you become a Christian?
pastoral care
Navigating the workplace as a Christian: When meetings are tense
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Date posted: 31 Jul 2025
Every so often we have a meeting that does
not end well – a meeting where tempers
fray, division is evident and maybe unkind
words are spoken.
Hopefully it does not happen often, but
when it does it hurts. Chairing meetings like
that can take it out of us. And, once home,
it is easy to let ungodly thoughts go round
our head.
history
Daniel McPhail and the revival at Osgoode: A ministry marked by prayer
Michael Haykin
Date posted: 30 Jul 2025
Under
the powerful ministry of Daniel
McPhail’s preaching, the church at Osgoode
flourished.
When McPhail became the pastor of the
church, there were 60 members. A year later,
the membership had increased to 76. By the
annual assembly of the Ottawa Association
in 1846, at which McPhail preached the
introductory sermon, the Osgoode church
had 99 members. A dozen years later, this had
nearly doubled to 192. On two occasions,
between 1854 and 1856 and
then again
between 1860 and 1862, McPhail baptised
some 90 persons. In 1860, five years before
McPhail
left Osgoode,
the membership
stood at 245, by far the largest church in the
Ottawa Baptist Association.
everyday theology
Why a band of brothers is better than a ‘great man’
Michael Reeves
Date posted: 30 Jul 2025
“Two are better than one, because they have
a good reward for their toil. For if they fall,
one will lift up his fellow. … And though a
man might prevail against one who is alone,
two will withstand him – a threefold cord is
not quickly broken” (Ecc. 4v9-10, 12).
One of the greatest practical problems I see
across the church is the isolation of so many
church leaders. There are many contributing
factors, but surely one of them is the idea
that spiritual growth occurs only or mainly
through the purposeful, influential actions
of elevated individuals. We might call this
the “great man” theory.
Addressing fatherhood Biblically
Richard Underwood
Date posted: 29 Jul 2025
Richard
Underwood
is a retired pastor, who
served as General Secretary
and Pastoral Director of
the
Fellowship of
Independent Evangelical
Churches. Here,
he
speaks
to
John
Woods, en Reviews Editor, following the
publication of the latter’s new book Good,
Bad, No Dad? the first
thing
that comes
RU: What’s
into your mind when you hear the word
“father”?
JDW: For me the word father still leaves
a huge question mark. It reminds me that
a significant part of who I am remains a
mystery. RU: For the benefit of those who haven’t
read the book, how would you summarise
what’s bad about “no dad”?
the Bible in action
If you could travel in time...
Martin Horton
Date posted: 28 Jul 2025
If you could travel back in time, where
would you go? The parting of the Red Sea?
Jesus feeding the 5,000? How about the day
of Pentecost?
You arrive in Jerusalem – and you can’t
understand a word! You reach
the upper
room just before it happens. The violent rush
of wind, the tongues of fire and, in a moment
of astonishing lucidity you realise you can
hear someone speaking your language.
everyday evangelism
What helps people in Britain today find faith?
Gavin Matthews
Date posted: 27 Jul 2025
The
‘Finding
Jesus’
report
from
the
Evangelical Alliance has
landed. They
surveyed hundreds of people who have put
their faith in Jesus in adulthood.
This was followed by intensive interviews
with 20 of them about their experience.
Along with a battery of statistics, the report
contains stunning insights and is enhanced
by heart-warming testimonies. It’s divided
into three sections looking at what started
people’s spiritual searching, how they were
converted, and what the path of discipleship
has looked like. It’s free to download!
a Jewish Christian perspective
Encouragements in Jewish evangelism
Joseph Steinberg
Date posted: 27 Jul 2025
I am encouraged by so many good news
stories coming
from
the world of Jewish
evangelism. In my role as the International
Coordinator of the Lausanne Consultation
on Jewish Evangelism, I have the privilege of
interacting with evangelistic organisations and
missionaries to Jewish people from all over the
world and hearing all the good that the Lord is
doing right now among Jewish people.
But I am also the CEO of International
Mission to Jewish People. And as such, I am
personally acquainted with the faithful work
of all our missionaries. God is at work!
‘Gen Z’ is unique – here’s how to engage them
Peter Dray
Date posted: 25 Jul 2025
Have you noticed how
people
see
the world
similarly
to
those born
at a similar time to them?
It’s evident even in trivial ways. Virtually
everyone, for example, feels that the best
music was created in their mid-teens (me
included!).
The conditions in which we grew up shape
our view of the world into adulthood. They
set
the presets against which we measure
everything we encounter later in life. The Bible
itself recognises this generational difference,
with Judges 2v10 highlighting the distinct
perspectives between those who entered the
Promised Land and their children.
How do we handle interruptions?
Jonathan Thomas
Date posted: 24 Jul 2025
“Was
that
the
doorbell? Did you hear
something?” One of my
greatest frustrations is getting
an email saying that a parcel is going to
be delivered, waiting in all morning for it,
and then going to the front door… only
to discover a passive-aggressive card that
claims “We
tried
to deliver”. Did you?
Really?
Mind you, there have been times when
the delivery person has rung the bell and
knocked the door, but I have been too busy
to answer, honestly thinking that what I was
doing was far more important. Every time I
see that little card I start to wonder – what
have I missed?
defending our faith
AI shedding new light on ancient texts
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 24 Jul 2025
From 1947, the recovery of fragments of
Biblical texts in the region of the Dead
Sea became one of
the most celebrated
archaeological discoveries of modern times.
Accidentally
found by Arab
shepherd
boys, the first scraps proved to be part of
a trove of over 1,000 manuscripts hidden
by Jews from the Romans during the first
century. A recent paper has announced new
light being revealed from these ancient texts.
The Keswick Convention’s repeated transformation
Philip Sowerbutts
Date posted: 23 Jul 2025
Keswick has always been
about transformation.
The Convention’s founder
Thomas Dundas Harford-Battersby, Vicar of
St John’s Keswick, was a man troubled by a
lack of holiness in his own walk with God.
It was whilst on holiday on the Cumbrian
coast at Silloth that he was first introduced
to a new
teaching
that would
lead
to a
personal transformation by a work of God’s
Holy Spirit. In just three weeks, he and his
friend Robert Wilson organised their own
“Holiness Convention” in June 1875 using
a tent in the garden of Harford-Battersby’s
Keswick vicarage (see photo of the 150th
anniversary book cover). Hundreds attended,
and such was the success it was decided to
hold another the following year, and so it has
continued for 150 years.
Cambodia 50 years on: Stories from the killing fields
Julia Cameron
Date posted: 21 Jul 2025
It is 50 years since the brutal Khmer Rouge
seized power in Cambodia. Their genocide
resulted in the deaths of 1.5 –2 million people
in the four years that followed. Here, the
testimony of Christians
from
that
time
echoes down the years.
You are about to read some remarkable
stories, writes Julia Cameron in the foreword to
the book from which these accounts are drawn.
They will stay with you. I’m sure of that.
