Saw this linked by a dear friend last week and thought it was interesting for two reasons.
1. Bragg doesn’t appear to belong to any camp and is broadly regarded as an impartial observer. (OK, I know . . . !)
2. It gives a refreshing perspective of where the ‘man in the street’ really is on a lot of these issues.
What do you think?
Well with finishing work and setting up my own business, I haven’t had much chance to blog in the last 6 weeks, so I thought I’d quickly put that right by getting straight into the festive spirit with this wonderful Christmas song that should cheer your cockles.
This sounds like a cynical comment, but Mike Breen raises this questions and states his reasons here in his blog.
Will the missional movements fail due to lack of discipleship and ergo the lack of leaders raised up?
Some challenging observations here.
I love John Piper.
Many will be familiar with the cases such as Lillian Ladele  who was dismissed for wanting to reschedule her duties as a registrar to avoid performing civil-partnerships and Gary McFarlane who refused to work as a counsellor with same-sex couples as a matter of religious conscience.  These cases have been lost in court and are now among a number that are heading to the European Commission for Human Rights to be heard.
Early in the noughties, the then Government legislated on discrimination covering sexual orientation, religion and race followed by published guidelines. Â It appeared to be a level playing field . . . until cases started landing in court that is. Â It quickly became apparent that as cases were being heard, a hierarchy emerged and the weakest suit in the deck was faith and conscience. Â It soon became clear that where a case involved both sexual orientation and religious conscience, the former would win and trump the latter. Â Even where victories were gained, they were lost on appeal in the higher courts and in some cases, the Lords refused to hear cases beyond the high court.
This was a Stonewall victory that did not happen over night. Â There had been a long and persistent strategy. Â Lobbying, cosseting, infiltrating prominent positions, outing turning the mind of the nation. Â Even now, the drum still bangs. Â Not content with civil partnership, pressure is being brought to persuade legislation for same-sex ‘marriage’.
I could harp on infinitum, but I’ll save that for another day. Â My main point of posting is that the EHRC has announced a somewhat more tempered approach to future cases which has certainly ruffled a few feathers in the pink camp. Â It has previously lent weight to cases against Christian businesses who have acted on religious conscience and not prejudice such as that of Christian hotel owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull of Marazion in Cornwall. Â Even after a victory in court, the EHRC were set to mount an appeal for higher damages, but pulled out amid bad press earlier this year.
I digress.  It is now reported that the commission is intervening in four legal cases heading for Europe, believing that British courts have not done enough to defend the rights of Christians. For myself, I agree that the courts have failed Christians and I spent time with my own MP, Annette Brook, and told her that Christians can’t get a fair hearing in Britain any more.  I really appreciated her candour and appreciated the time she gave me.  I welcome the news, but I am also aware that the commission is also wanting to avoid precedents set outside our borders and may be opting for the lesser of two evils.  I would love to be proved wrong.
The fact is, Christianity will never be popular as long as it holds to Biblical values.  Jesus said that the world would hate us and he was right.  Even David Cameron wants to create the church in his own image.  Rather than holding to what we believe, we should ‘be more open-minded and tolerant’.  The problem is that definitions change in a historical sense, ‘tolerant’ used to mean ‘respectfully disagreeing’.  Now it means that you’re forbidden to question anything  you don’t agree with.  In engineering terms, tolerance is the margin built-in before the whole thing collapses!
This is the world we now live in. Â We can’t turn the clock back and land the country back in the middle of a great awakening. Â That we have to work for through prayer and perseverance.
Links to Christian Institute & Pink NewsÂ
Tope Koleoso from Jubilee Church in Enfield did a brilliant session on leadership at 300 Leaders last year. This is a really helpful session where Tope outlines his own journey to Enfield and how God is using him there.
Tope draws some helpful comparisons between Leadership and Shepherding around the 16:40 point and there are some good outlines for the role of the leader.
A really encouraging and practical video. This is a really fantastic session and worthy of you time to watch and take it in.
Leadership and the Gospel from Jubilee Church on Vimeo.
In 2008, Mark Driscoll was invited by Terry Virgo to address the leaders of New Frontiers at the annual conference, Together On A Mission.
He did some Butt-kicking in the main sessions, but he also did a training track entitled ‘Be radical and plant radical churches.’ Â You can access the mp3 files here.
From what I can gather, the sessions are being radical and planting radical churches.
So Danny Cohen has Christians sussed then!
According to this Beeb Exec, Dot Cotton (OK Branning for you purists) IS a good representative character for Christians living in the UK.
You may not chain-smoke, you may not gossip, you probably don’t even spout out random verses from the King James Version of the Bible although you’ve never actually been caught reading it, but hey, Mr Cohen can sure spot a Christian when he sees one!
All that remains now is for him to cast a cameo role for the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and rumour has it that he’s eying up Russell Brand . . .
Dot Cotton's Handbag 