Esther Stansfield

• The art of healing: Why churches should care more about beauty

  Art is building a bridge between the visible and the invisible. Patients' prisons are being transcended by impossible beauty.

• It's a new term at school. But should we have a new mindset as disciples?

  How much prep time do we put in for a fresh new term as Jesus followers?

• Sudden storms and broken branches: Why discipleship is about peace, not safety

  We need to learn not to wait for the perfect day. Not to wait for the clouds to pass and the waters to calm, but to grab each other by the hands, and ask our Rock for the courage to jump anyway.

• How can the church turn mid-life spiritual crisis into an opportunity?

  As an adult I now find it chilling that their most potent threat comes not in the deep dark shadows, but in the bright, warm sunshine of the enchanted poppy field, where the sweet fragrance lulls them into a lethal state of listlessness.

• Story sharing: The bridge across the church generation gap?

  We talk about the 'generation gap'. What are we doing to build a generation bridge? Are stories the answer?

• We really are family: The power of Christian connectedness

  Do we really feel, and more importantly, act like we are one big family? And how strong is our sense of 'belonging' to it, in all its global breadth and historic depth?

• What can ski school teach the church?

  How a skiing holiday taught me to show up, get close and personal and be all in.

• Gethsemane, Good Friday and how our shrapnel wounds prepare us for Easter

  My husband and I went to view a house for sale nearby and were shown around it by the old couple who had lived there for over 30 years.

• Why Christmas is a ceilidh and Easter a silent disco

  Maybe it's because I'm from Northern Ireland and grew up in the era of the regular 1980s church ceilidh/hootenanny/barn dance night, but I love celebrating special occasions with foot-tapping music and cringeworthily exuberant dancing.

• Adventure church: Why Christians really should get out more

  Do our church programmes enable us to 'taste and see' the amazing, life transforming story in a way which moves beyond head to heart, shifts our emotions, and stirs our souls?