The following article was written by Gustav Pritchard. He is an elder at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. Electricity is not always in constant, predictable supply here in South Africa. Even in the major cities, we face power failures for parts of the day, sometimes for days on end. Sadly, it is far […]

Let me tell you a story about a pastor called John who lives in a small town in Scotland. You’ve never heard of him and you’ve never heard of his community. Where he lives unemployment is high, drug abuse is off the charts, and life is hard and short. John was saved about 10 years […]

My name is Carrie, I’m almost 60, and while most of my friends and other people my age are preparing for retirement, I did the unthinkable. Eight months ago I sold my belongings and left family, kids, and precious grandkids to move across the ocean to a small community in the east end of Glasgow. […]

“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received.”(Eph. 4:1) I’m 33, and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at the beginning of summer 2017. My husband Pete and I have three pre-school boys, and we are church planters in Barlanark, Glasgow. After having our twins […]

Titus is to set an example for the flock. Paul says the same to Timothy when he writes to him as well (1 Tim. 4:12). Paul consistently taught this to young pastors specifically, but I think we can apply it to ourselves too. Be an example to others. God is interested in how we live […]

This is the first of a 2-part post on accountability. Accountability is a word that can conjure up different emotions. Some people are scared of it; they think that another person is going to be prying into their lives and might not like what they find. Some people think it’s great; why wouldn’t you want […]

This is the final blog in a 3-part series on the subject of perseverance. So, let’s move on from the what to the how. You might be sat there right now feeling a bit overwhelmed, thinking, You’ve told me that I am supposed to run the race without messing about and without letting anything get […]

20schemes is five years old this month (although the idea was birthed over a decade ago while church-planting in Brazil). Personally, I am entering my nineteenth year of pastoral ministry. During that time, I have worked in council estates in the UK, the slums of Brazil, and now in Scotland with 20schemes. We currently have […]

This post was written by Sharon Dickens, 20schemes Director of Women’s Ministry. This is part 2 of a 2-part blog series on the issue of wisdom and counselling written by Sharon Dickens (20schemes director of women’s ministry). In the first part of Dumb Yet Dumber, we were thinking about who is the source of our […]

In a recent conversation with another church planter’s wife, she asked me the question “What did you tell your girls about Santa?” I thought this would make a good blog for this time of year. Christmas has become so commercialised, and in lots of ways totally over the top. People overspend, overeat, over-drink, and if […]