Hello for some reason I had written but forgot to actually post this – so Happy Tuesday!

This week I’ve been taught about strength training in the gym to help my running, been thinking about how to develop and encourage curiosity, working on Christmas projects, planning for 2025, talking with friends about the costs of church planting, praying, dreaming, grieving and being surprised by generosity. Life eh?!

You Should Read These

Turns out there are 9 things here

1. The greatest threat facing the church today – Did Brad East’s answer surprise you? What would you say?
2. A Theological Vision for Ministry – I appreciated this from Tim Suffield
3. Sudan’s ‘invisible crisis’ paired with this from Ruth Valerio: Supporting refugees amid a deepening economic crisis in Egypt
4. The Rise Of Christianity & The Early Christian Strategy are two very thought-provoking articles from Scott Alexander as he interacts with the work of Rodney Stark
5. What Does Our Far Future Look Like?
6. When you think of a home what do you imagine? I bet you didn’t think of it looking like any of these?
7. Not every church in Sweden is struggling

---

You Should Look At This

Here Are 3 of the 25 Finalists of the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award including the picture of Mount Doom at the top!

---

You Should Listen To This

I’ve had this album on repeat this week

---

You Should Watch This

Hard to disagree

I have no idea what I just watched, but that might be the best goal celebration of all time… 🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/ANWS9IGHWp

— Not Match of the Day (@NOT_MOTD) September 17, 2024

---

This Week’s Postings

I’ve written something! Two somethings!

• Are we sleepwalking to our doom?
• My simple prayer when I need to forgive

---

From The Archives

I was then surprised by where my brain went next with this observation: to discipleship. I began to wonder if in our contemporary churches we haven’t been far too keen on building roads at the expense of walking a winding and slower path. A non-Christian friend comes to church so we invite them on an Alpha course. Need some inspiration for your youth or church? Off to the summer conference we go. I travel roads, and I use these opportunities in church but in building our churches around these roads of discipleship we may at best miss the contours of an individual’s heart and soul or perhaps at worst be destructive because we are in haste to transport this person from spiritual place A to spiritual place B.

Roads and paths

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Do let me know if there’s something here you appreciated or if you see something you think would be worth sharing, let me know!