Skip to content
The Simple Pastor
Thoughts on faith, life & wonder
X
Bluesky
Instagram
Facebook
Goodreads
RSS Feed
Subscribe
Search
Church
3 ways to invest in your church
9 February 2026
Servants, saints, elders & deacons
12 November 2025
Rethinking Church: God as Father
8 October 2025
Rethinking Church: Start With God, Not Us
2 October 2025
What we learn about the Lord’s Supper from 1 Corinthians 10
21 August 2025
Sit together as family, sing together as church
7 April 2025
Why I wouldn’t talk about evolution in a sermon even if I thought it was true
4 February 2025
Is egalitarianism only possible now?
3 February 2025
Entertaining or engaging?
24 January 2025
Where, O leader, is your well?
19 December 2024
How we ran a service in 4 languages
16 December 2024
Does your church have missional power?
22 November 2024
Twelve Types of Church Member
7 October 2024
I could be the wolf
19 September 2024
Would Paul praise your church the way he praised the Church in Rome?
3 September 2024
Five obstacles to discipleship in cities
18 April 2024
Writing preaching Series outlines
10 March 2024
Children and church planting
23 February 2024
6 Key characteristics of the church in Acts
9 February 2024
Creating a preaching framework
10 January 2024
Why The Church in Sweden needs restoring
8 November 2023
Missional Preaching
6 November 2023
Colossians Remixed: Community, Liberation & Suffering
1 September 2023
How infant baptism came to be
14 August 2023
Who holds the future of Christianity in Europe?
31 May 2023
Do we really let iron sharpen iron?
17 March 2023
Languages, annoyances & building the church
25 February 2023
How we became a multi-lingual church
23 February 2023
What I learned from going to an AA meeting
22 February 2023
How should Newfrontiers apostolic ministry evolve?
20 February 2023
Everyone’s journey starts at the beginning
13 February 2023
It’s a gift to be charismatic
12 January 2023
Church on Sunday?
20 December 2022
Thinking about diversity
14 September 2022
The glory of the local church
28 September 2021
Devoted to fellowship
13 September 2021
Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching
6 September 2021
Meeting together
9 August 2021
No reason to take any notice of Christianity
14 May 2021
Not set up to help
21 April 2021
Failing on the inside: sexual ethics & the failure of evangelicals
7 April 2021
The church we need (but don’t have) to dethrone consumerism
26 March 2021
Faith in our secular, not secular world
27 October 2020
Learning to listen well
12 June 2020
Read the Word
19 April 2020
Once more into the waters
13 April 2020
The challenges of a multi-cultural church
1 April 2020
What will we do with the bread & wine?
25 March 2020
Unthinkable (in Europe anyways)
19 February 2020
Pioneer CONFERENCE 2019
5 December 2019
What Betsy Willis taught me about being a family of churches
19 November 2019
Why gather? For someone & for something
17 November 2019
Corporate prayer is like serving the devil an eviction notice
14 November 2019
Corporate prayer is like an orchestra playing
13 November 2019
Praying together is like armed combat
12 November 2019
Corporate prayer is like digging a ditch
11 November 2019
Why gather? To eat, sing & pray together
10 November 2019
Figuring out small groups
8 November 2019
Women & complementarian churches
7 November 2019
Why gather? Friendship
27 October 2019
Church planting in Europe
23 October 2019
Good church leadership
11 October 2019
Partnership for the Gospel
9 October 2019
Six steps to making your church better
27 September 2019
No biting in church
26 September 2019
3 tips for short-term students on how to get involved in a church
29 August 2019
Is the World’s Next Missions Movement in Ethiopia?
14 August 2019
Make Sunday Mornings Uncomfortable
8 August 2019
How Many Christians?
18 May 2018
The death of the church
17 May 2018
The resurrection of Jesus (links)
1 April 2018
Academy of Life
10 February 2018
Planting a Church Is Lonely
8 January 2018
Five essential marks of biblical ecclesiology
14 December 2017
Recruit. Reach. Reap. Reproduce
12 December 2017
The importance & challenges of creating culture in a church plant
8 December 2017
Spain
11 October 2017
A diverse church
4 October 2017
A church empowered by the Spirit
6 April 2017
Recreating the Hanseatic League for spiritual purposes
23 March 2017
Relational Mission: A compass but no map
21 March 2017
A people changed by the Grace of God
20 March 2017
What we mean by a Gospel-centred church
17 March 2017
3 mistakes to avoid before going full-time
7 March 2017
Church planting essentials: Setting your pace
6 March 2017
Christians, the early church & child abuse
21 February 2017
Don’t neglect communion
10 February 2017
Interview on bi-vocational leadership
8 February 2017
Relational Mission: Starting new families
1 February 2017
How is a church on mission organised?
20 January 2017
Church is a family
8 January 2017
Questions about preaching
27 October 2016
Relational Mission: A church for a broken world
3 October 2016
Mature & Multiply
8 September 2016
Church is family
5 September 2016
The art, not science, of multiplication
2 August 2016
The key to missional communities is the mission
1 August 2016
The need for patient disciplemaking
29 July 2016
Mark Dever’s 4 ways to make disciples
28 July 2016
Creating a Culture of Discipleship
27 July 2016
5 Ways To Equip Disciples as Gospel Ministers
26 July 2016
Jeff Vanderstelt’s 6 questions to ask to assess your disciple-making culture
25 July 2016
Making your church a place to belong
20 July 2016
A neglected meal
10 June 2016
William Booth’s 4 keys to church growth
9 June 2016
A church history of bivocational ministry
8 June 2016
A family of churches
16 November 2015
Leadership in the early church
3 September 2015
Living in the redzone
28 August 2015
A brief guide to missional communities
25 June 2015
The last words of Jesus
3 April 2015
Discipleship, community and church
19 March 2015
Journey of a Church Planter: Emma Whittall in Stockholm
18 March 2015
Lessons in church planting
9 March 2015
The Coming New Normal
11 February 2015
Let history decide
10 February 2015
The Apostle Paul and training Christian leaders
15 December 2014
Questions from the pool of Bethesda
2 December 2014
Die heretic scum!
27 November 2014
Church planting essentials: Perseverance
13 November 2014
Jesus our great High Priest
3 November 2014
Church Planting Essentials: Accurate measurements
15 October 2014
Church Planting Essentials: Patience
13 October 2014
Church planting essentials: Hospitality
6 October 2014
The Sunday meeting
22 September 2014
Seven ways our lives can tell the Gospel
19 September 2014
Baltic Pioneers
18 August 2014
Life Together: Confession
19 June 2014
Life Together: The day alone
13 June 2014
Life Together – The day with others
11 June 2014
Commentaries on the Gospel of John
20 May 2014
Should you stop having prayer meetings?
23 April 2014
Cell Church
22 April 2014
How many Christians are there in Iznik?
14 April 2014
The two ends of the bi-vocational spectrum
11 April 2014
7 observations & 3 challenges for Newfrontiers
9 April 2014
5 things to do before you give up being bi-vocational
13 March 2014
Five reasons why I’m happy to be a bi-vocational leader
20 February 2014
The bi-vocational leader
17 February 2014
Learning to live with faith
24 January 2014
The church in Sweden
2 December 2013
The decline of Christian Europe
12 November 2013
Megachurch, megarich and sometimes mega-generous
26 August 2013
What do we know about Ephesus?
22 July 2013
The disruptive church
27 May 2013
This kind of love doesn’t exist, does it?
6 May 2013
Praying for a church plant
3 May 2013
Bread & Wine as a covenant meal
29 April 2013
The courage to think differently
1 January 2013
Where's the future of the Church of England? Not in Sweden you'd hope
22 November 2012
What the Bible says women can do: some reflections
14 November 2012
What the Bible says women can do
12 November 2012
A taste of the kingdom
7 November 2012
On the road
26 September 2012
Painting pictures
25 September 2012
Thoughts on church planting
10 September 2012
A communion prayer
7 September 2012
The Kingdom of God in Luke’s Gospel
5 September 2012
Getting used to multicultural life
3 September 2012
Invitations to the table
31 August 2012
Furniture buying for church planters
30 August 2012
Scriptures for communion (updated & expanded)
24 August 2012
Discussion topic: What does a mission shaped church look like?
23 August 2012
What church looks like for us right now
17 August 2012
The future of Evangelicals in Europe
10 August 2012
Reaching a society without God
26 July 2012
Moltmann on the mission and the future of the church
24 July 2012
Moltmann on the Lord’s Supper
23 July 2012
Carl Trueman on the Lord's Supper
29 June 2012
The Lord's Supper: A question for paeadobaptists
26 June 2012
History, Eschatology and Community in the Lord’s Supper
23 June 2012
Do evangelicals ignore the Lord's Supper?
20 June 2012
Communion: Personal reflections
13 June 2012
Devoted to the breaking of bread
12 June 2012
Why are we planting a church in a city?
25 April 2012
Church planting for cultural influence
24 April 2012
Does church planting in a city make sense?
23 April 2012
The importance (or not) of cities
18 April 2012
Sent: By apostles
12 April 2012
What does it mean to be evangelical?
10 April 2012
Why be accountable?
10 April 2012
Resurrection
8 April 2012
The long Friday and the death of the world
6 April 2012
Reverse engineering
4 April 2012
Sunday mornings and church plants
3 April 2012
The hard graft of church planting
2 April 2012
The battle for healing in Britain
29 March 2012
Children and the church
27 March 2012
Does working together make you a denomination?
26 March 2012
Micro-finance for mission
19 January 2012
Scotland, the church and homosexuality
27 December 2011
The giving of Christmas
25 December 2011
Fighting over Junia
13 December 2011
What everyone missed in ‘the elephant room’ controversy
29 November 2011
Should a church be excellent?
7 October 2011
When a pastor should cry
30 August 2011
Sent: By a local church
31 July 2011
Two percent
27 June 2011
Together
21 June 2011
Do Rob Bell, Tim Keller and CS Lewis agree on hell?
1 March 2011
Launching Hope Church
25 January 2011
This is the best church plant ever!
6 January 2011
Calvinist & Arminians
30 November 2010
Baptism
7 November 2010
The dangers of a consumer church
2 November 2010
One reason why Newfrontiers conferences are special
19 October 2010
Merger questions
7 October 2010
Clement on musical styles
30 September 2010
Caesarius' advice on preaching
29 September 2010
How John Chrysostom upset the rich
27 September 2010
How wealth led to the decline of the church
24 September 2010
Buildings can distract you
24 August 2010
The new name
23 August 2010
Movements not Institutions
3 August 2010
What's in a name?
9 June 2010
Borderlands
6 June 2010
Gina Welch still doesn't know the Gospel
14 April 2010
Total Church Conference Report
22 February 2010
Building something significant
24 January 2010
The battles for the church
23 December 2009
Church merger: Theology
7 November 2009
Church merger: Values
3 November 2009
Church merger: Vision
8 October 2009
Church merger: Questions we're asking
30 September 2009
Why merge?
31 August 2009
How do you merge a church?
23 August 2009
Dead Brits and Living Americans
12 August 2009
Revelations: How to find God
30 June 2009
The Resurrection is the key
9 April 2009
New Calvinism is changing the world. Yeah Right.
13 March 2009
Creating culture
11 March 2009
God and the city
9 March 2009
Flee to the city or from the city?
1 March 2009
Shapers of culture
28 February 2009
The city, the culture and the church
27 February 2009
I am an idiot, Tim Keller is not
26 February 2009
I’m sort of emerging
17 February 2009
Thinking about Karen Matthews
12 December 2008
Newfrontiers Weaknesses?
9 December 2008
Breadth & depth is found through teams
5 December 2008
Teams, Walls and Transitions
5 December 2008
Why I’m happy to lead a Newfrontiers Church
3 December 2008
Pubs are more important than churches
25 November 2008
Called out: how ecumenical am I?
18 November 2008
Out of step
8 July 2008
Revival or Jesus?
21 May 2008
Front Edge
20 May 2008
There’s nothing like the church
6 April 2008
Get Saved
24 January 2008
Are Christians hypocritical?
14 January 2008
Authentic Mission
1 November 2007
Discipleship implies community
29 October 2007
Revisiting Community
11 October 2007
Who is in your community?
13 September 2007
Let's Go – Day Four
7 September 2007
Let’s Go – Day Three
5 September 2007
Watching the body in action
19 August 2007
The Church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally
11 August 2007
The Church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
31 July 2007
The Church is Homophobic
20 July 2007
The Church is dominated by males and oppresses females
19 July 2007
The Church is Judgmental and Negative
18 July 2007
The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
17 July 2007
Is Christianity Middle Class? Part 2
22 June 2007
Is Christianity middle class?
15 June 2007
Loading Comments...
Write a Comment...
Email (Required)
Name (Required)
Website