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‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

ANANIAS & SAPPHIRA

By and others ⋅ April 23, 2017 ⋅ Post a comment

We ‘peregrinating preachers’ tend to have a store of favourite themes. Here’s one version of a sermon I’ve preached hundreds of times (that’s not a misprint)! You ask, ‘Should anything be preached that often?’ My response: anything I believe is worth saying is worth saying again. This story has themes implicit within it which are pivotal to our […]

Pentecost: the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Energy

By and others ⋅ April 11, 2016 ⋅ Post a comment

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GIFT OF ENERGY! Pentecost Sunday is sometimes called ‘the birthday of the Church’. Pentecost is a Greek word meaning ’50′, so we celebrate Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus. Forty days he taught and encouraged his followers, then after his Ascension they waited another ten days for his gift of […]

The Lord’s Prayer is subversive…

By and others ⋅ March 26, 2016 ⋅ Post a comment

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WHAT EASTER IS ALL ABOUT

By and others ⋅ March 21, 2016 ⋅ Post a comment

Paul wrote:

The Advocate – historical fiction at its best

By and others ⋅ January 15, 2016 ⋅ Post a comment

by Nils von Kalm http://nilsvonkalm.com I think more Christians need to read historical fiction. I know I do. Having recently finished Randy Singer

NEW YEARS’ RESOLUTIONS: Do they actually work?

By and others ⋅ January 4, 2015 ⋅ Post a comment

Sometimes we preachers are asked ‘How long do you take to prepare a sermon?’ There are two answers to that: (1) ‘The whole of my life’ (2) ‘About a week, mostly’… This past week I must have read half a dozen articles in the press about the pros and cons of making New Years’ Resolutions… […]

Sam Keen: writer extraordinaire…

By and others ⋅ October 31, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

Sam Keen Joy to the World Meditation on a Jay The Self ~~ Joy to the World Posted: 28 Oct 2014 This morning I notice a small bird trapped in my screen porch. My Birds of North America identifies it as a female Berwick’s Wren “ distinguished from other wrens by its eye stripe, white under parts […]

Acceptance, Repentance: subject/object relationships

By and others ⋅ September 28, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

If you put love-before-worth jmm into Google you’ll read three of my most controversial sermons!   Excerpts: ~~ From a wedding homily at http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/33687.htm  :     2. ACCEPTANCE. This is the basic idea in the Christian concept of ‘grace’. I am loved by God before I change, before I ‘deserve’ to be loved. This love-before-worth […]

Words that build or destroy

By and others ⋅ September 11, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

by Nils von Kalm http://nilsvonkalm.com On the morning of September 11, 2001, theologian Miroslav Volf was just finishing a talk to the International Prayer Breakfast of the United Nations in Manhattan. The time was 8.34am. The topic was reconciliation.   The minutes following would see some of the greatest chaos and turmoil ever on American soil […]

Mavericks in the Church (may their tribe increase!).

By and others ⋅ June 15, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

IS THERE ROOM FOR MAVERICKS IN THE CHURCH? I came across an article the other day with this title [1]. It began with an IBM ad: ‘Dreams, heretics, mavericks, and geniuses. The story goes thatHenry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After afew weeks, he reported favorably except for one thing: […]

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