iChaplain

Photo by Jon Tyson. Recently, I heard a discussion about British values and Christian values. The assumption seemed to be that they were largely the same. It made me pause and ask:  what are Christian values, exactly? Most people would mention kindness, fairness, compassion, respect, or tolerance. These are admirable qualities, and Christianity has undoubtedly helped shape them. But they are not uniquely Christian. More importantly, Christianity is not primarily a set of values. It is a response to the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. So when we think about Christian values and describe Britain as a "Christian nation", what do we mean? Do we mean a nation influenced by Christianity, or a nation made up of people who follow Jesus? Those are not the same thing. Jesus did not invite people to adopt a culture or defend a tradition. He invited them to follow Him: "Come, follow me." (Matthew 4:19) Perhaps this is where the distinction between Christianity and Christen...

Few words in Scripture are as simple and yet as profound as the words Jesus spoke to Matthew: "Follow me." (Matthew 9:9) Matthew was sitting at a tax booth when Jesus called him. To many people, he was an unlikely candidate for discipleship. Tax collectors were often regarded as traitors, collaborators with Rome, and people whose pursuit of wealth had come at the expense of their integrity. If there was a list of people most likely to be excluded from God's purposes, Matthew would have been near the top. Yet Jesus stopped, looked at him, and said, "Follow me." There is something remarkable about this moment. Jesus did not begin with a lecture about morality or a demand that Matthew first prove himself worthy. He did not tell him to change and then come. He simply invited him into relationship. This reveals something essential about the heart of God. Jesus sees people not merely as they are, but as they can become through His grace. The invitation was not si...

Few Bible stories are as familiar as the account of Martha and Mary in Luke 10. It is often presented as a contrast between activity and contemplation, with Martha representing the busy Christian and Mary representing the devoted disciple who sits at Jesus' feet. The lesson is usually framed as a warning against busyness and a reminder to slow down and spend time with Jesus. While there is certainly truth in that application, I wonder whether we sometimes miss the deeper issue altogether. When Jesus arrived at Martha's home, she immediately began serving Him. She prepared, hosted and attended to the needs of her guest. Given the importance of hospitality in Jewish culture, it is difficult to see her actions as anything other than an attempt to honour Jesus. The text never suggests that serving Him was wrong. In fact, it was good. The turning point in the story comes when Martha notices that Mary is not helping. While Martha is busy serving, Mary is sitting and listening to J...

Photo by Alena Plotnikova on Unsplash . Recently I've been reading through the book of James. I mention that only because sometimes Scripture has a way of catching us by surprise. A passage we've read many times can suddenly challenge us in a way it never has before. James 2 has done exactly that for me. Few passages in Scripture address such a deeply human problem as clearly as this chapter does. The issue is favouritism. We may like to think we've moved beyond judging people by wealth, status, or appearance, but James exposes how easily we can value some people more highly than others. His words are uncomfortable because they reveal something about the human heart that hasn't changed very much at all. James begins with a simple but challenging command:  " My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism." (James 2:1) James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in the Jerusalem church, wrote to Jewish Christians who...

Have you ever discovered that something you've believed for years isn't actually true? Not because someone lied to you. Not because you weren't paying attention. Simply because you'd heard it repeated so many times that you assumed it must be true.  That happens with Jesus more than we might realise. Over the years, we've attached all sorts of sayings to Him that sound spiritual, inspirational, and even biblical. Phrases like  "Follow your heart,"  "Believe in yourself,"  "Be true to yourself," "Everything happens for a reason,"  "God helps those who help themselves,"  "Money is the root of all evil," have become part of our cultural vocabulary. Many people assume they came from Jesus or at least from the Bible. The problem is that Jesus never said any of them.  In fact, one of them isn't even an accurate Bible quotation. The Bible doesn't say, "Money is the root of all evil." It says, ...

What if the church's discomfort with evangelism is telling us something important? Few words make Christians more uncomfortable than evangelism.  For some, it evokes memories of pressure, awkward conversations, or techniques designed to persuade. For others, it raises feelings of guilt and inadequacy. We know Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples, yet many churches struggle to know what faithful evangelism looks like in today's world. This is not to deny that there are times when evangelism requires words. The New Testament is full of examples of faithful and courageous proclamation. Peter preached publicly at Pentecost (Acts 2:14–41) and before hostile authorities (Acts 4:8–20). Paul reasoned in synagogues and marketplaces (Acts 17:17), defended the gospel before rulers (Acts 24–26), and declared, "I am not ashamed of the gospel" (Romans 1:16). Yet alongside these examples of proclamation, we find something equally important: communities whose common lif...