Tag Archives: community
Life is Worth Living
It is Worth Saying that Life is Worth Living Crisis: In the last month, at least four people have committed suicide in the local Indigenous community. Conundrum: There is a deliberate policy of not publicising suicides, because it is well known that such news can trigger others to commit suicide. Effect: A whole community is left […]
Read MoreIf there’s any “Church life” in twenty years’ time… what will it look like?
The Church will not be the same in 2035. What will it be like? I have great confidence that the Church will be healthy and strong in 2035, because Jesus will still be Lord. I am under no illusion, however, that it will be the same as it is today. In fact, the way church life […]
It is more blessed to give than to receive… So give someone else a turn!
When giving becomes a selfish act When we place ourselves in the role of “giver”, say as in charitable act, we place another person in the role of “receiver”. We get to feel good about ourselves, and they get to suffer the indignity of accepting a handout. Who is more blessed? We are. Selfish… isn’t it?
Read MoreAn Encounter with a Modern-Day Cultural Man
Bennelong: One Man, Two Worlds I have a (dear) friend who grew up as a young boy learning many of the Indigenous Australian ways – bushcraft, stories, hunting, and so forth. I had the opportunity to interview him as part of an anthropology assignment, and in the process I became his student. For some cursory background […]
Read MoreEvangelism: A Revolution
That Old Question: What really is Evangelism? I’ve posted a couple of things previously which reveal my unorthodox take on what ‘Evangelism’ actually is, but more recently the threads that I had been alluding to have been woven together in a quite remarkable way in real life. It is time to review and restate what […]
Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? – Luke 18:7
Persisent Prayer – An illustration I just found this audio. I recorded it twelve months ago, and kept it switched to “Private” in SoundCloud. It reveals part of what I have been praying all that time. Some of these things are now beginning to take place. I pray about a few things. Some are yet […]
Read MoreIt Starts: The Kingdom of God is Germinating in Ipswich
October 2013: It Starts. I need to record some of the things that have been happening because God is making himself known in remarkable ways in Ipswich at the moment. I think I need to just blurt it all out without structure, because otherwise I will make a dozen or more separate blog posts!
Advice for living on the street: Don’t be female.
Welcome to the Jungle The Law of the Jungle (summarised as “only the strong survive”) is unfamiliar territory to most people who will be reading this blog. So unfamilar, in fact, that many of us like to think it doesn’t apply to the human experience. It does. The content of this post is blunt, and possibly quite […]
Read MoreOn Earth as it is in Heaven
To What shall I Compare the Kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is coming to the street subculture of Ipswich. How can I describe it? How can I document it? Just thinking about it brings Jesus’ refrain to mind, “to what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?”, and his declaration to Nicodemus, “very […]
Read MoreStreet Theology: Justification by Faith
How Biblical Justification Looks “On the Street” Everybody loves being right. It’s even better when you are recognised as being right in front of other people. When those other people have scoffed and mocked you, the victory is all the sweeter. But the ultimate prize is when you are declared right, and your mockers declared wrong, and […]
The other side of the “No Smoking” sign: discrimination by Social Cleansing
Is this Social Cleansing? I’m a non-smoker. Indeed, I am even an ex-smoker, and I support the principle of removing cigarette smoke from the lives of those who don’t smoke. But the recent (1st Feb 2013) ban on smoking in some of the public spaces in Ipswich has made me uneasy from the start. Today […]
“Mission to the Marginalised”…?
How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a missionary? I was invited recently to talk under the heading “Mission to the Marginalised”. (I frequently wrestle with the appropriateness and definition of words like “mission” and “marginalised”, but at least the other two words in the heading were pretty straightforward) I […]
Domestic Violence: He fractured my skull, but I love him.
That awkward moment when you fracture your pregnant girlfriend’s skull In the Mall this week, we had the privilege of providing support and encouragement to a young pregnant woman with a fractured eye socket. It seems her boyfriend had become enraged in a drunken fit of jealous imagination, and pummelled her with punches resulting in […]
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (Jn 8:32)
If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (Jn 8:36) I have a friend who has been set free by the truth. This is from her story. The story has helped me to understand more and more about human beings, and the ways in which they are wired-up. At every turn it […]
A Five-Year-Old Junkie and the Hungry Bandit
People are Awesome How do you describe a day in which you meet not one, but two very special human beings? Last Tuesday, as is my custom, I spent time in Ipswich Mall. As the day unfolded I met a young man who was clearly very much drug-affected, and a young woman who seemed to […]
Expect Miracles
Are the Biblical miracles just “a foretaste”, given to the early church? Can we expect miracles today? Understanding the Biblical miracles as an eschatological “foretaste” is helpful when considering the “consummated kingdom” to which they point, but such an understanding of miracles does not resolve the question of whether they are to be experienced today. […]
Read MoreWhat is the “Authority” of the Bible?
The Nature of the Bible’s authority So if the Bible comes from the “people of God”, rather than falling out of the sky directly from God, how can it be said to be authoritative? The Process As we have seen, the Bible came together as a process over countless generations, and human beings were most […]
Is the Bible actually “the word of God”?
In what sense is the Bible, “the word of God”? This sounds like a simple question to answer, but it is actually a long-running and very heated debate amongst Christians. Many claim that the Bible is “the word of God”, but they often mean different things by that statement.
Recent Posts
- Addiction: How to Help
- … and this just in: News from the Streets of Ipswich. Issue 23
- What Happens When We Die, and Where are my Loved Ones?
- Seeking the Kingdom
- If it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you – Matt 12:28
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Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ – Jesus
What are you doing, helping people like that? A friend recently heard what I’m up to on the streets of Ipswich and was flabbergasted. Not that she thinks I’m doing anything wrong, to the contrary she dubbed me “Saint Kevin”, about which I have profoundly mixed feelings, but I can add it to the list […]
- June 26, 2014
- / Category Commentary, Matthew 9, Mission to the Marginalised, Reflection on Ministry, Sin, Sinner, The Human Connection
- / Posted By Kevin Bennett
- / 3 Comments.
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