With the explosion of interest in mercy ministry in evangelical churches has come a lot of well-intentioned people with a lot of poorly-thought-out theology. So, it’s not uncommon to hear people refer to evangelism in the following terms: Preach the gospel and use words if necessary. Evangelism is as much about what we do as […]

I get to travel and talk to a lot of churches about the work of 20schemes. Given the demographics of evangelical churches in the UK and the culture within which it (largely) operates, a lot of the young people that talk to me are well educated and middle class. Almost always, their first question is: […]

So, the critique of 20schemes gathers apace in some parts of the Scottish church. “Over reliant on American money”,“going to swamp our country with ghastly Americans”, “an unnecessary organisation given that every scheme has a Parish church”,“they suppress women”, “they're going to ride roughshod over existing church initiatives”. When we launched 20schemes last November, nobody […]

An article on the BBC website caught my eye recently. “London’s New Housing Loses The “Dirty Word” Apparently new homes being built in London are now being renamed, ‘neighbourhoods’ instead of‘estates’, because the powers that be feel that the latter has a pejorative association. Indeed, according to the report, which you can read here, the […]

This book was a New York Times best seller, and charts the ministry of Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest and founder and director of ‘Homeboy Industries’. Their mission statement sums up what they do far more adequately than I could hope to: “Our Mission: Jobs not Jails: Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and formerly gang involved […]

Housing scheme ministry is a tough gig. It is made somewhat harder when you are and/or have renewed a stagnant and/or dying congregation. We do have to watch out for all sorts of obstacles. 1. People Fatigue – I know I am tired and I need to refocus spiritually when I get sick of people and […]

“A fourth threat to undermine a man’s ministry is a non supportive wife. It could also extend to the children, but particularly a non supportive wife, one who nags and battles a pastor as he tries to be faithful and loyal to the Lord and the church. If she is negative on the church or […]

‘Bankrupt Britain: An Atlas of Social Change’ by Daniel Dorling, says that society in Britain is shot through with inequality and poverty. According to their research: It is well-known that of all the countries of Western Europe, the UK has among the highest rates of child poverty and by far the highest rate given the […]

This is an extremely provocative book and I absolutely loved it. Although written for a North American cultural mindset, it is certainly applicable across much of Europe. The byline is, ‘How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself’. We live in a culture where the concept of a ‘missions trip’ […]