Opinion

If churches can't satisfy people's hunger for truth, we can expect to see more Christians leave
If churches can't satisfy people's hunger for truth, we can expect to see more Christians leave

If people cannot connect with God in the institutional church setting, we can expect to see more prominent Christians leaving their positions of leadership.

When Christians leave, can we still love?
When Christians leave, can we still love?

The treatment of an Arsenal footballer who transferred to a French team has something it can teach us about how Christians should respond when "one of us" decides to leave the fold.

We need to stop using tragedies to make political points
We need to stop using tragedies to make political points

The blame game is all too easy after attacks like the one in Sydney

A 'zero waste' lifestyle and the challenge to the church
A 'zero waste' lifestyle and the challenge to the church

Jo Herbert-James is on a mission or, should I say "on a journey" towards a God-honouring 'zero waste' lifestyle in a world where, at present, it seems like 99 per cent of what we buy is thrown away within six months.

Christian suffering: What happens when there is no happily ever after?
Christian suffering: What happens when there is no happily ever after?

It is wonderful that prayer is answered and people or relationships are mended. But what about those for whom there is no end to the problem, no healing and no end to the pain? What do we say or think about them?

Is America too sick to recover?
Is America too sick to recover?

Let's have honest conversations about all the relevant (or, possibly relevant) issues.

Could Boris Johnson really force through a no-deal Brexit in the middle of an election? A constitutional lawyer weighs in

Corbyn should also be asking whether the government would, in the first instance, breach the caretaker convention simply by recommending to the Queen that polling day take place after 31 October.

Guns, evangelicals and the Bible: some uncomfortable truths
Guns, evangelicals and the Bible: some uncomfortable truths

In such a confused world it is always helpful to get some facts – not all of which fit the narratives we are fed by the various sides.

Why failure doesn't have to mean the end of a faithful life
Why failure doesn't have to mean the end of a faithful life

Failures, big and small, are God's ways of prying open our eyes to see what we'd never see otherwise.

School assemblies and the sound of silence?
School assemblies and the sound of silence?

Should non-denominational schools be prevented from offering an act of worship which has until now been the law in this country? And should these schools even be taken to court by offended parents?

Grumpy or Godly? What Christians might learn from mindfulness
Grumpy or Godly? What Christians might learn from mindfulness

Christians should, quite rightly, reject any metaphysical teaching accompanying mindfulness. But learning to step back and view our thoughts, sensations and emotions; well that, it seems to me, is an entirely different matter.

State schools, collective worship and confused expectations
State schools, collective worship and confused expectations

Publically funded schools which are not designated "faith schools" are required to hold a daily act of worship which is "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character", whilst faith schools are in fact subject to different regulations.

A spy and a small prayer
A spy and a small prayer

A small prayer said hundreds of miles away may just have made all the difference for possibly one of the most important spies in post-War history

How do we get from Sunday disciples to whole-life disciples?
How do we get from Sunday disciples to whole-life disciples?

We often think in terms of binary opposites, it's either church or the rest of life, and either scattered or gathered. And it's never as simple as that, it's both

Out of the darkness: Is the secularist faith in decline?
Out of the darkness: Is the secularist faith in decline?

We hear a great deal about the decline of the Church and the decline of the Christian faith in today's West. But I wonder if we are also seeing something else – the decline of the secularist faith.

Crazy golf in cathedrals: a tool for mission or compromising the sacred?
Crazy golf in cathedrals: a tool for mission or compromising the sacred?

Writer and theologian Ian Paul considers whether cathedrals should be used as playgrounds.