||Pastoral Passage|| What characterizes New Zealanders? And how does that shape Christian faith in New Zealand?
Category Archive: Christianity and Culture
||Book Summary|| Children from families who have immigrated are often said to be caught between two cultures. They belong to their parents’ culture but grow up within another. It can be a tricky tension for them to navigate as they often wish to be faithful to their ‘home culture’ as well as fit in with their adopted culture at school and with their friends.
The Christian faith frequently conflicts with current ideas. Given this has happened since Christianity’s inception, this should neither surprise nor dismay us. Rather, we should establish its difficult teachings in our hearts and minds so we can preserve them, present them, and faithfully pass them on.
I would like to take the chance to thank all of you in the LRBC church family for supporting and encouraging me over the years of my tenure as youth pastor.
Two subtle but significantly different ways we can approach scripture.
If you are a Christian struggling to find a place in your church, do not give up: you have more to offer than you can realise.
It is awkward when you are represented in such a way that you neither wholeheartedly endorse nor wish to outright deny.
As Christians the gospel should shape our values and perspectives on all issues, and here I would like to offer the example of one man whose perspective on one of these was indeed formed by his commitment to Jesus. His name was Paulus Orosius.
We recommit Whitefield’s mistake by participating in the normalized sins of our age. Take care not to take part in them. They might be normal, but they are not right.
Truth isn’t affected by popularity, or a lack of it.
Chris Northcott 