Mez McConnell is the senior pastor of Niddrie Community Church and director of 20schemes. He is the author of numerous books, including The Creaking on the Stairs: Finding Faith in God Through Childhood Abuse (Christian Focus) and Is There Anybody Out There?: A Journey from Despair to Hope (Christian Focus). He's married to Miriam and has two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter.
The Bible is a big book. For a lot of our people within the schemes it is a VERY big book. Within its pages we find lots of different kinds of literature: poetry, prophecy, history, narrative, letters, and apocalyptic writings. It’s hardcore. Understanding it correctly is not easy, but it is certainly not impossible. We […]
The Bible is a big book. For a lot of our people within the schemes it is a VERY big book. Within its pages we find lots of different kinds of literature: poetry, prophecy, history, narrative, letters, and apocalyptic writings. It’s hardcore. Understanding it correctly is not easy, but it is certainly not impossible. So, […]
I got given this cheeky little 126-page number this week by a visiting American. I didn’t know him all that well prior to his visit but I grew to like the big fella by the time he left. He has also made a friend of my girls for life after coming armed with Pretzel M […]
“As with persons in any other helping profession, sometimes the motivation to enter the ministry is to gain the appreciation, attention, and acceptance which is personally needed but which is not being supplied elsewhere. Sometimes it is the unconscious desire to dominate others and in effect to become little popes, which is an easy goal […]
Listen to Paul speaking to a church dividing on ethnic and social lines in Ephesians 2:14–17: “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was […]
“It doesn't look as bad as I thought.” “I’ve seen worse.” “I thought it would be rougher than this.” “I don’t know what I was expecting but this looks OK.” Just some of the comments I have been noticing more and more from overseas visitors to the schemes (specifically Niddrie). It’s fascinating, to me anyway, […]
I want to do a longer blog about this at a later date, because there is a lot of misinformation about literacy and the poor. But, for now, you may be interested in this interview I did for 9marks along with some other brothers working around the world in poor communities. Enjoy.
London is a cosmopolitan city. It is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. It’s a whole swirl of colours and people and nations. It’s almost the very definition of cultural diversity. We find this to be the case even in its housing estates too (although there are always exceptions!). Birmingham is similar, but with a higher Muslim population […]