Why join a new church plant?

28 months ago, Adrian Watts left Oak Hill Theological College. He moved to Bradford and started a church plant with his fellow-pastor, Tom Swinney. Today The Good Book Blog continues to talk to Adrian about why he chose to plant in Bradford and how things are going ...

Christians who've recently moved into a new area aren't always keen to join small church plants. Of course, sometimes it's right to join a larger, more established church. But how would you address some of the common objections?

When considering joining a church plant, it is worth asking the question ‘why have they decided to plant a new church?’ For example, there maybe a church plant because Christians in the area are having to travel some distance to go to a Bible teaching church and so it would be wrong to assume that a bigger, more established church, is better.

Here are four possible reasons why people might not want to join a church plant. And a few points to ponder.... continue reading

The challenges and encouragements of church planting

28 months ago, Adrian Watts left Oak Hill Theological College. He moved to Bradford and started a church plant with his fellow-pastor, Tom Swinney. Over the next couple of days, The Good Book Blog talks to Adrian about why he chose to plant in Bradford and how things are going ...

Tell us 2 things that delight your heart as you look back over the past year or so

1) Seeing Trinity Church go from a plant to a small established congregation.

Two and half years ago, Tom, his wife Caroline and I were eating a chilli together discussing for the first time the possibility of working together on a church plant in West Yorkshire. Today I sit in the office with Tom as I write a Bible study on Acts 12 for tomorrow evening's Growth Group. Recently we welcomed new students at the Fresher’s Fayre tomorrow at the Trinity Church stall. Last year we were called as a church plant and now we are known as a church. It is incredible how God has answered our prayers to establish this new church. We have fifteen committed core members who are growing in maturity. The church has a growing fringe and plenty of opportunities to do evangelism.... continue reading

Why I moved to Bradford to plant a church

28 months ago, Adrian Watts left Oak Hill Theological College. He moved to Bradford and started a church plant with his fellow-pastor, Tom Swinney. Over the next couple of days, The Good Book Blog talks to Adrian about why he chose to plant in Bradford and how things are going ...

Why plant a church rather than go on staff at an existing one?

The most obvious route out of Bible college is to become an Assistant Pastor to gain experience. However, within the independent sector there are very few vacancies to be an Assistant Pastor, particularly in West Yorkshire. The churches are generally small with few resources and they cannot afford assistants. This lead to two possibilities: we could either work in another part of the country or begin a new work in Bradford. Since the purpose was to work in West Yorkshire. We planted a new church.... continue reading

On to a Good Thing

When life hurts

Experiencing joy and peace can easily be seen as the ‘norm’ for the Christian. Yet so often, we find that life hurts.

One of the hardest things about suffering is when we do not know why it has happened. Often God does not explain why. He wants us to trust him in our trouble.

Phil Crowter, author of several books in the Pray/Prepare/Preach series came face to face with the reality of terminal cancer. In his book Preaching Job, he points out that the Bible gives us many good reasons for the troubles we face in life. God uses trouble in our lives to produce good things. Here’s Phil’s list of useful points to consider when life is hurting:... continue reading

5 great ways to use music in a service

There are a thousand good and bad ways to use music in a church service. Here are just five hopefully good ideas which combine both Biblical truth with practical advice…

1. Use music to help the congregation engage both mind and heart with God

There is no stronger reason to sing in church than the Biblical command to ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

It is a profound truth that as saved people, Christ lives in us and we live in him. And God uses our singing to actually help that happen. So when you sing in church – or lead singing in church - remember the great responsibility you have. You are taking part in God’s ministry of teaching his word to his people – to both their hearts and minds, and are part of the means by which we honour, praise and serve him in response to his grace.... continue reading

Fighting the Monday feeling

The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Mark 6 v 26-34

Your church or Christian group may seem fairly insignificant. Maybe it's large and flourishing. Or maybe you're one of only a few Christians your age in a cold, half-empty building every Sunday and the "kingdom of God" looks unimpressive to say the least. But Jesus says this is what we should expect — it looks small now (like the mustard seed) but its growth is supernatural — it's down to God, and one day it will be seen by everyone. So look around you for signs of the presence and growth of God's kingdom. It is happening.

The lost art of catechism

The word "catechism" may conjure up for you images of a world gone by, with musty prayer books and children repeating answers to questions couched in ancient language.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and The Gospel Coalition have just released a modern catechism on iPad that could change the way we think about this.

New City Catechism aims to help adults and children memorise a 52-point exposition of the Gospel. One for each week of the year. The app encourages adults to learn a full version of the answers, and there is a shorter question and answer that is suitable for children to learn, which uses a subset of the words in the adult version. This makes it easier for children to "upgrade" to the adult version at the appropriate moment.

The catechism was written by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas at Redeemer, but contains a wealth of supporting material to the basic question and answer, including: a Bible verse; a prayer; an extended quotation on the theme of the question from one of the great theologians of the past; and video comment from a contemporary pastor, including Don Carson, Mark Dever and John Piper. You can download a PDF of the full catechism here.

This is a superbly thought out app, with a wealth of riches to be enjoyed as an adult, and a very worthwhile exercise to build into family life. If you've got an iPad, download it for free at the Apple app store. If you haven't got an iPad - this may be a worthwhile reason for buying one!