How long should the ideal sermon be? That may well be like asking the question, “How long is a piece of string?” What got me thinking about this was an article in the Financial Times entitled ‘Swift is perfect at the three-minute Spotify song’. Taylor Swift’s song Anti-Hero (with a…

What do you think when a preacher begins a sentence with the words: “In my opinion?” Some congregations might well breathe a sigh of relief that at last their preacher has jumped off the fence and brought some clarity to an issue. Some people don’t like their thinking to be…

It was good to attend the annual FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) conference in Blackpool last week. This is the first such gathering since 2019 so it was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones. …

It is good for preachers to listen to other preachers. Other preachers are part of the gift that Christ gives us in being part of his church. Over the years I have listened to hundreds of sermons by Timothy Keller and have learned a great deal about the what gospel-centred…

I have had a two-week break — one week celebrating a special birthday in Yorkshire and one week visiting our son in Canada. Time off is always an opportunity to switch off for a bit, enjoy some leisurely meals, read a novel or two, watch a film, walk miles, and…

Life is scattered with stimulating fragments. This week I read the provocative question on Twitter: “Is there a place for boredom in sermon prep?” The tweet went on to quote Sherry Turkle: “Boredom is your imagination calling to you.” Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to use the…

Someone made a comment to me yesterday, “It was so good to hear you talk about Jesus in your sermon.” The comment came from someone whose work for a mission agency takes him to many different countries. He described how he was in the States for an extended period recently…

The sermon delivered by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at our Queen’s state funeral was potentially heard by 4 billion people. It has been the talk that people have kept talking about. I have been interested to see that it has attracted praise from every wing of the church…

The statistics are staggering. 400,000 people queued to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in the Hall of Westminster and an estimated 2 million people were gathered in central London today to witness the procession to her state funeral. This almost pales into insignificance compared to the estimated…